On Tuesday, February 27 Aldo Leopold Charter School students in grades 6-12 will welcome award-winning author and poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. 

Among many topics, students and faculty are looking forward to hearing about his journey from prisoner to celebrated creator and how literacy set Baca on a whole new path. At the age of twenty, Baca served five years in the Arizona state prison system for drug trafficking. During his prison term, he learned to read and write. Since his release, Baca has authored 32 books in genres ranging from memoir, essay, short story, and poetry. He also launched two films and two TV series. His work covers themes of social justice, marginalized and disenfranchised populations, and addiction. 

His work includes supporting educators in building strong classroom communities with the publication of Adolescents on the Edge: Stories and Lessons to Transform Learning (2010). Through personal narratives and accompanying activities, Baca encourages youth to reflect on their own choices and their long-term impacts on their own lives. 

Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in Santa Fe in 1952 and is of Chicano and Apache descent. He was abandoned at the age of 13. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico and an honorary PhD. His life, his works are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit against all odds.