Stories from the Edge

"Accompanying grades 6-12 teacher's book, "Adolescents on the edge" and to be used in classrooms in conjunction with this volume for students."

As an abandoned child and a runaway Jimmy Santiago Baca's childhood was spent on the margins of society. In early adulthood he reverted again and again to a life of crime, eventually being sentenced to five years in a maximum-security prison. After years of hellish suffering on administrative segregation and in isolation, he emerges from prison a voracious reader and a skilled, self-taught writer. He miraculously discovers a deep attachment to poetry that becomes his saving grace. Now an accomplished and celebrated author, Baca is the recipient of many honors including the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the Hispanic Heritage Award, and for his memoir, A Place to Stand, he received the prestigious International Prize. In 2006 he won the Cornelius P. Turner Award, a national award that annually recognizes one GED graduate who has made outstanding contributions to society in education, justice, health, public service, and social welfare. Devoting his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship, Baca has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries, and universities. In 2005 he created Cedar Tree, Inc., a nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping others improve their lives through education. Other books by Jimmy Santiago Baca PoetrySelected Poems/Poemas SelectosRita and JuliaSpring Poems Along the Rio GrandeWinter Poems Along the Rio GrandeC-Train and Thirteen MexicansHealing EarthquakesQue Linda La Brisa/How Beautiful the Breeze IsImmigrants in Our Own LandBlack Mesa PoemsMartin and Meditations on the South Valley Short Stories and EssaysAdolescents on the Edge / Stories from the EdgeWorking in the DarkThe Importance of a Piece of PaperBreaking Bread with Darkness NovelA Glass of Water MemoirA Place to Stand FilmBlood In/Blood OutLate BlossomsLost VoicesMoving the River Back Home