Luis J. Rodriguez is an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. He is the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate. He is recognized as a major figure in contemporary Chicano literature, and has received various awards for his work. His best-known work, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., received the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, among others. It has been the subject of controversy when included on reading lists in California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas schools due to its frank depictions of gang life. Rodriguez has also founded or co-founded numerous organizations, including the T�a Chucha Press, which publishes the work of unknown writers, T�a Chucha's Centro Cultural, a San Fernando Valley cultural center, and the Chicago-based Youth Struggling for Survival, an organization for at-risk youth. Rodriguez was the 2012 vice-presidential nominee of the Justice Party. In July 2013, Rodriguez declared his intent to seek the Green Party of California's nomination for Governor of California in 2014. 

January 1st, 1954 in El Paso (Age 70)