“I never thought I would end up writing fiction novels after I had dedicated so many years to construction”, said the famous Texan writer, Dagoberto Gilb.
Gilb was born in California and worked in construction since he was 13 years old. His parents worked in factories, his father of German decent and his mother of Mexican decent. No one encouraged him to go to school because he had to work in order to provide for his family, said the writer.
Dagoberto admitted to being a bad
student in middle school and of getting out just in time of “bad influences”. He also says he struggled to go to a university but that after a few years of working in construction he finally graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of California in Santa Barbara in 1973. Three years later, he received his master’s degree in religious studies.
Even though he achieved a degree from a university, Dagoberto could not find a job in his area of study, so he continued to work as a carpenter until he became inspired in such a way that he began to write about common things that occurred in his life.
Finding a place to publish his work was difficult. Many thought Dagoberto was writing about things that weren’t important, “common things in a normal life”. Later, these same critics would admit to the richness his work had due to that.
The work the writer, who lives in Texas, has published are the following:
The Magic of Blood /La Magia de la Sangre 1994; The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna/La Ultima Residencia Conocida de Mickey Acuña 1994, Woodcuts of Women/Impresions de Tallados de Mujeres 2002; Gritos 2004; and Hecho en Tejas 2006.
Gilb was awarded for his work in The Magic of Blood /La Magia de la Sangre with the highest honours by the National Foundation of the Arts, the Texas Institute of Literature, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN Foundation of Ernest Hemingway and the Whiting Writer Award.
In the writer’s opinion, people should take life more serious to smile more often. “Death comes in a matter of seconds and its no use to hold on to useless things”. From that he adds the satire of common life in his stories, where the discussions are strong to make the reader understand and live.