Alejandro Dennis Morales was born October 14, 1944, in Montebello, California. His parents, Delfino Morales Martínez and Juana Contreras Ramíriz, had immigrated to California from Guanajuato, Mexico. Morales grew up in East Los Angeles, where he attended elementary and secondary schools. Morales married H. Rohde Teaze on December 16, 1967.

Morales earned a bachelor of arts from California State University in Los Angeles and a master of arts and Ph.D. in Spanish in 1971 and 1975, respectively, from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Morales is known primarily as a novelist who records and interprets the Mexican American experience. His first novel, Caras viejas y vino Nuevo, was written in Spanish and published in 1975 in Mexico City. It examines the conflict between generations in a Mexican American community. It was revised and edited before being translated as Old Faces and New Wine (1981). La verdad sin voz (Mexico City...