Autobiographical poet, critic, and short-story writer Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado is among the most prolific of the Chicano writers who first came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Because of his literary productivity, his thematic versatility, and his social commitment, he has served as a model for many current Chicano poets, becoming known in some literary circles as "el abuelito" (the grandfather).

Born in La Boquilla de Conchos, Chihuahua, Mexico, on 27 November 1931, Delgado spent his early childhood years in this rural village and in the cities of Parral and Juárez in northern Chihuahua. In 1943, at the age of twelve, he and his mother, Guadalupe Díaz Delgado, immigrated to El Paso, Texas, and settled in the impoverished neighborhood known as el segundo barrio (The Second Neighborhood), where he lived until 1969. He attended Aoy Grammar School, where at first he had some difficulties because...