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Tim Z. Hernandez (b. February 16, 1974) is an American writer, poet, and performer.
Life
Born in Dinuba, California, he was raised in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, having lived in the predominantly farm-worker communities, including Cutler, Reedley, Dinuba, Visalia, and Fresno. His family roots are in Texas, New Mexico, and East Los Angeles. Until the age of seven Hernandez's parents were migrant farmworkers, following the seasons across the southwest, including California, Oregon, Wyoming, and Colorado. It was during this time on the road that he developed an interest in travel and stories.
From 2001 - 2004 Hernandez held a position with the California Council for the Humanities, where it was his job to travel to rural communities across the stretch of the San Joaquin Valley and listen to stories of migration and struggle. This experience profoundly impacted his life and his writing.
Professional
In his adolscent years Hernandez was immersed in acting as well as drawing. He participated frequently in school plays and poetry recitation contests since the age of six. As a teenager, he focused mainly on drawing and painting, eventually exhibiting his works in galleries and cultural centers across the west coast. During this time he kept numerous journals and wrote poems and stories.
Shortly after, through a series of personal events, Hernandez eventually left painting and took up writing and performance art full time, studying Poetry and Performance at CSU Long Beach under the mentorship of Juan Felipe Herrera and Margarita Luna Robles. Since then, his performances have been featured at the Getty Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dixon Experimental Theater in NYC, The Loft Literary Center, Intersection for the Arts, Stanford University, and at the Jack Kerouac School, among other venues. In 2000 he was commissioned by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the National Fanny Mae Foundation to write and perform an original play on homelessness and poverty. From 2006 through 2011 he has worked with Poets & Writers Inc. and the California Center for the Book at UCLA, offering writing workshops to marginalized communities across the state of California.
He earned his B.A. degree in Writing & Literature from the first accredited Buddhist institute in the west, Naropa University. . He holds an M.F.A. from Bennington College in Vermont.
Painting
Hernandez began painting at an early age, eventually exhibiting in his first group show at the age of sixteen. He met the artist Joseph De La Cruz that same year and began what he considers to be his first apprenticeship. De La Cruz taught him the basics of applying oil paint to canvas, and eventually helped him land his first solo exhibit by the time he turned eighteen. In 1999, a chance meeting with the bay area muralist Juana Alicia landed him an apprenticeship position in San Francisco. In the lineage of Stephen Dimitroff (chief plasterer for the Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera), who was Juana Alicia's teacher, Hernandez studied with the master muralist for five months. The result, a 32 × 25 ft traditional fresco mural on permanent display at the San Francisco International Airport. A week after its completion, a car accident ended his time in the bay area and landed him back in the central valley. Since then, he has been commissioned to paint murals for various organizations, and humanitarian endeavors, including groups such as the James Irvine Foundation, the American Friends Service Committee, Univision Radio, and many others.
Awards
- 2011 El Premio Aztlan Literary Prize for Breathing, In Dust
- 2011 International Latino Book Award, 2nd Place in Fiction, Breathing, In Dust
- 2006 American Book Award for Skin Tax
- 2006 Zora Neal Hurston Award for Diaries of a Macho
- 2003 James Duval Phelan Award by the San Francisco Foundation
- 2010 California Book Award Finalist
- 2010 Balcones Prize for Fiction Finalist
- 2010 Book of the Year Award Finalist
Works
Fiction
- Breathing, In Dust (Texas Tech University Press, 2010)
Poetry
- Skin Tax. Berkeley: Heyday Books. October 2004. ISBN 9781890771935.
- Culture of Flow, (Monkey Puzzle Press, 2012)
Audio CD
- Chile Con Karma: A Brown Lotus Project (Audio CD, recorded at Naropa University studios)
- The Central Chakrah Project: A Spoken Word Cura, (Audio CD, Arte Americas)
Anthologies (partial listing)
- Highway 99: A Literary Journey Through California's Great Central Valley. Great Valley Books/Heyday Books. 2007. ISBN 9781597140676.
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- Wet: A Journal of Proper Bathing (University of Miami)
- Black Renaissance Noire (NYU)
- Many Mountains Moving (MMM Press)
- Undocumented: In the Gardens & the Margins (Baksun Books)
- Symposium (Baobab Tree Press)
- Square One (Colorado University)
- Mosaic Voices Anthology (Poppy Lane Publishing)
- Ram’s Tale Anthology ( Fresno City College)
- Flies, Cockroaches, and Poets Anthology ’02 (Chicano Writers & Artists Association)