I was born in Mexico and raised in Madera, California. I received my MA in English from California State University, Fresno, where I studied with Peter Everwine, Connie Hales, C.G. Hanzlicek, and Philip Levine. I received my MFA. from the University of Washington, where I studied with Rick Kenney, Heather McHugh, and David Wagoner. While at the University of Washington, I was the 1995-1996 Klepser Fellow, and, later, a teaching assistant. In 1998, I was an Artist Trust/Washington States Art Commission Literature Fellow. During the 2000-2001 academic year, I was the Ruth and Jay C. Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where I taught creative writing. My poetry collection, “Bent to the Earth,” was published in 2005 by Carnegie Mellon University Press, and was a 2006 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/featu... http://www.boxcarpoetry.com/001/inter... http://amoxcalli.ginaruiz.com/?p=50 http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases06/0601... You can find some of my work in the following anthologies: http://www.amazon.com/How-Much-Earth-... http://www.amazon.com/Highway-99-Lite... You can find my book in the following libraries: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58919356...