Meet Luis J Rodriguez

[close] "Eleven years old—I started in my first gang. Around twelve years old I started doing drugs," says Luis J. Rodríguez. "I ended up being the one that fell through the cracks."

Rodríguez grew up in Los Angeles, where after joining a gang, he lived on the streets and became addicted to heroin. In his twenties, after turning his back on gang violence and drugs, Rodríguez began his career as a journalist and award-winning poet. His depictions of urban and Mexican-immigrant life in works such as Always Running have made him one of the most prominent Chicano literary voices in the United States.

"The world kept saving me . . . until finally I became aware: I better think about something else now," he says. Watch Rodríguez share his personal story—and learn how books helped him escape his dangerous beginnings.