Xavier Garza (born 14 October 1968)[1] is an author and illustrator of children's books and professor of art at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio.
Xavier Garza was born in Rio Grande City in Texas's Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1968. Growing up along the border in a Mexican-American family, he became intensely interested in both the spooky local folklore and the sport of lucha libre or Mexican wrestling.[2] After receiving his BFA in art from the University of Texas Pan American in 1994, he became an art teacher. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he began to exhibit his work in venues such as Talento Bilingue de Houston, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Nuestra Palabra de Houston and various Mexican Consulates in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso. Garza's art has also been displayed in The Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, Mexic-Arte in Austin, Gallista Gallery in San Antonio, Coronado Studios in Austin, and The Ice House in Dallas, among many others.[3]
After contributing to several anthologies in the early 2000s, Garza penned and illustrated his first children's book, Creepy Creatures and other Cucuys, which was published by Arte Público Press in 2004.[4] Over the next decade, he went on to craft many other award-winning titles. His stories have also appeared in many periodicals, including El Mañana, The Monitor, TABE, The Corpus Christi Caller Times, Mesquite Review and the Milwaukee Spanish Journal .[5]
In 2007, Xavier Garza received his MA in Art History and Criticism from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He presently resides in that city with his wife and son.
Garza's books have been widely acclaimed.
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