| Birth Date: | 21 February 1954 |
| Birth Place: | Fresno, California, U.S. |
| Death Place: | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Author, poet |
| Education: | California State University, Fresno (BA) Stanford University (MFA) |
| Movement: | Chicano Movement |
| Notable Works: | Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida |
| Awards: | National Book Award for Young People's Literature |
Victor L. Martinez (February 21, 1954 – February 18, 2011) was an American poet and author. He won the 1996 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for his first novel, Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida.[1]
Martinez was the born in Fresno, California to Mexican migrant agricultural field workers of the Central Valley. He was one of twelve children.[2] Victor attended California State University at Fresno and later obtained a graduate degree from Stanford University on a Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship. He began writing as a poet and published a book of poetry, "Caring for a House," in 1992. He was a member of Humanizarte, a collective of Chicano poets, and later of the Chicano/Latino Writers' Center of San Francisco.[3] He supported himself with jobs as a welder, truck driver, firefighter, teacher, and office clerk.[4] In February 2011, he died of lung cancer at age 56 in San Francisco.[5] [6]
Martinez and his first novel Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida won a National Book Award in 1996.[1] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Parrot was a semi-autobiographical account of a 14-year-old Mexican American boy growing up "in a world of gangs, violence and poverty" in the projects of Central Valley (California).[3] [6] Martinez wrote the novel for adults but an editor suggested promoting it in the young adult fiction market.[6] It has been translated into languages including Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and German, and widely acclaimed by young people around the world.