United Poets Laureate International - World Congress of Poets

Jesús González was born and raised in the bicultural/bilingual environment of El Paso, Texas, U.S.A./Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico with family on both sides of the Río Grande. Just graduated from El Paso High School, he joined the U.S. Navy in the hospital corps and served in the Marine Corps with the rank of Staff Sergeant. At the end of his military service, he attended the University of Texas, El Paso in pre-med taking time to attend the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México where he studied archaeology. On receiving the bachelor’s he decided to dedicate himself to literary studies, which he did under a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and a National Education Act Fellowship. He did his graduate studies at the University of Oregon.

As professor of literature and creative writing, he taught at the University of Oregon, Western State Collage of Colorado, Central Washington State University, the University of Texas, El Paso (as Visiting Professor of Philosophy), and at Laney College, Oakland, California where he founded the Department of Mexican and Latin-American Studies. He also taught in the public grade and high schools under the Poets in the Classroom program. His poetry and academic articles appear in reviews and anthologies in the U. S., Mexico, and abroad; his collection of poems El hacedor de juegos/The Maker of Games published by Casa Editorial, San Francisco went through two editions.

R. J. G. has been nominated thrice for a Pushcart price. He also works as an artist in the visual arts and his work has been exhibited in various parts of the country such as the Oakland Museum of California, the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, the Charles Ellis Museum of Art in Milwaukee and others in Mexico and abroad.

In 1996, he was named Poet in Residence at the Oakland Museum of California and the Oakland Public Library under a ‘Writers on Site Award’ from Poets & Writers, Inc. He served as contributing editor for The Montserrat Review and was chosen for the Annual Award for Literary Achievement by Dragonfly Press in 2002. In 2003 he was honored by the National Council of Teachers of English and Annenberg CPB for his writing. He was named featured poet by the San José Poetry Center, San José, California, the fall of 2005. In November of 2005, he was invited to read his poetry and present a paper at the World Congress of Poets in Tai’an, Province of Shandong, China. In July 2006 he was named Universal Ambassador of Peace, Universal Ambassador Peace Circle, Geneva, Switzerland. In Spring 2007, he read his poetry and presented a paper at the Philosophy Conference at the University of Texas El Paso; presented a paper and read his poetry at the 8^th International Literary Encounter aBrace in Montevideo, Uruguay and following the Encounter was invited to read his poetry at the National Institute of Anthropology and Latin American Thought in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In June 2007, he was honored for excellence in poetry at the 20^th World Congress of Poets, Montgomery, Alabama. He currently sits on the Latino Advisory Council and Día de Muertos Committee of the Oakland Museum of California, and on the Arts Alliance and the Peace Education Network of the Office of Public Education, Alameda Country, California.