Sheila Ortiz-Taylor is a critically acclaimed Chicana novelist, poet and lecturer, and winner of the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award (1997). Born in Los Angeles in 1939, Ortiz-Taylor began writing poetry and plays as early as junior high school. Upon graduation from high school, Ortiz-Taylor enrolled at UCLA where she married and relocated to Iowa where she worked as a nurse's aid with handicapped children and as a secretary. In 1961, she transferred to California State University, Northridge, where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in English, (Cum Laude), and was named Outstanding Student of Language and Literature in 1963.
After a summer of travel in Europe, Ortiz-Taylor returned to UCLA where she eventually received her M.A. in 1964 and her Ph. D. in 1972. During the period from 1964 to 1972, Ortiz-Taylor also worked on her book Emily Dickinson, a Bibliography. This piece was heralded as one fo the most complete and essential bibliographies of its kind. She is a Professor of English at Florida State University where she also has served as Director of Women's Studies. She has received numerous awards for her works; she has been writer-in-residence at the Guadalupe Cultural Center, the Cottages at Hedgebrook, the Hambidge Center, the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, and the Fundacion Valparaiso. She is a former Fulbright Fellow as well as recipient of other awards and fellowships.
From the description of The Shelia Ortiz-Taylor Papers, 1957-1997. (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 51276674
