New Mexico’s storytellers reflect the vast spectacle of its landscape, history and cultures. Rudolfo Anaya, one of its most beloved sons, has created an exemplary body of literary work - novels, short stories and children’s books – exploring Hispanic life in the Southwest. Influenced by a crossroads of cultures - Native American, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo - his fiction is infused with spirituality and has universal appeal.

Anaya was the first Hispanic American writer to achieve major publishing success with his landmark novel, Bless Me, Ultima, in print since 1972. The Nation magazine called it “…a timeless work about youth and the rites of passage.” The Los Angeles Times praised the author as “An extraordinary storyteller.”

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A passionate advocate for the appreciation of New Mexico’s Hispano traditions, Anaya has become a beloved part of the cultural landscape - as familiar and welcoming to his audience as the Southwest’s endless blue skies, adobe buildings or watermelon-colored sunsets.

Still writing at 77, his eloquence, wisdom and charisma are unmistakable and make him a beguiling subject for this documentary film. Rudolfo Anaya: The Magic Of Words is a vital reference to the authentic culture of Hispanic New Mexico. And while the wellspring of Anaya’s stories is New Mexico, his insight is invaluable to understand the quest by all Hispanic Americans for cultural identity, recognition and respect.