Francisco X. Alarcón

He lived in Davis, California. He died of cancer on 15 January 2016.

Alarcón judged the 2012 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.

In response to a group of students chaining themselves to the Arizona State Capitol on April 20, 2010, to protest the anti-immigrant legislation Arizona SB 1070, Alarcón penned the poem "For the Capitol Nine" and posted it to his Facebook page. Prompted by the response to this poem, he created a Facebook group called "Poets Responding to SB 1070", which grew to include over 1200 poems and received over 600,000 hits. An anthology of poems from the group is being prepared for publication.

Alarcón was "highly-regarded" for his children's poetry. He started writing poetry for children in 1997 when he realized there where very few books for children written by Latino poets. It took him a few years to sell a publisher on the idea of bilingual poems for children, because publishers didn't think they would sell very well in the United States. Kirkus Reviews has called his work on the children's book, Animal Poems of the Iguazu, as "eloquently crafted." He has been praised for his depictions of Latino culture in his poetry for children. His children's poetry reflects a "genuine warmth and sense of play." Much of it is autobiographical, touching on his memories of his own childhood in such a way that helps children connect to their own family experiences. His descriptions of food are another universal theme that all children can relate to.

Alarcón and fellow poets Juan Pablo Gutierrez and Rodrigo Reyes founded Las Cuarto Espinas, the first gay Chicano poets collective, in 1985. Together, they published a collection of poetry titled Ya Vas Carnal.

In 1984, Alarcón was considered a suspect in the murder of a young man, Teddy Gomez, who was killed in Golden Gate Park. He was held in jail for some time during the investigation with his bail set at $500,000. The investigation itself was considered "discriminatory." Alarcón felt that if he had been white, he never would have been considered a suspect. Others questioned the police department's actions and felt that they were also homophobic. Legal defense funds were raised, with Margarita Luna Robles organizing and leading the cause. The number of people who came to Alarcón's aid, visiting him in jail, speaking up on his behalf, praying for him showed how the Chicano community can come together during times of trouble. The actual murderer, William Melvin White, eventually confessed and Alarcón was cleared of all charges. Later, Alarcón sued the City of San Francisco because of the trauma the investigation caused. Alarcón was said to age visibly because of the ordeal. His book, Tattoos, reflects his experience as being a murder suspect.

Alarcón graduated from California State University, Long Beach, and Stanford University. During college, he started writing poetry, belonged to many literary circles in the area and also read his poetry out loud at various venues. At Stanford, between 1978 and 1980, he edited the journal Vortice. In 1982, while on a Fulbright Fellowship to Mexico City, Alarcón discovered Aztec incantations translated by a Mexican priest . These later inspired the writing in Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation. He also met his "soul mate," Mexican poet, Elías Nandino, on his trip to Mexico City. Alarcón was very impressed with how Nandino refused to hide his homosexuality from the world. During his time in Mexico, Alarcón was involved in the theatre in Mexico City and also did a lot of research at Colegio de México. The Fulbright grant also allowed him to travel to Cuba.

Francisco Xavier Alarcón (21 February 1954 – 15 January 2016) was a Chicano poet and educator. He was one of the few Chicano poets to have "gained recognition while writing mostly in Spanish" within the United States. His poems have been also translated into Irish and Swedish. He made many guest appearances at public schools so that he could help inspire and influence young people to write their own poetry especially because he felt that children are "natural poets."