Francisco Stork Young Adult Novelist Chicano, Hispanic Literature

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About Francisco X. Stork

Francisco Xavier Arguelles was born in 1953 in Monterrey, Mexico. Ruth Arguelles, his mother, was a single mother from a middle class family in Tampico (a city on the Gulf of Mexico). The reason Francisco was born in Monterrey rather than in Tampico, where Ruth lived, is that her father did not want anyone to know that she was going to have a child out of wedlock. She was sent to Monterrey to live in a convent until the baby was born. The baby was supposed to be given up for adoption, but Ruth changed her mind. After a while, Grandfather Adalberto relented and mother and baby Francisco were allowed to come home.

Author photo by Anna Stork

Six years later Ruth married Charles Stork, a retired man more twenty years her senior. Charles Stork adopted Francisco and gave him his name. Charlie was a kind but strict Dutch man who quickly went about instilling needed discipline in his new son. For his seventh birthday, Charlie gave Francisco a portable typewriter because Francisco announced that he wanted to be a writer. After wandering about Mexico for a few years trying to live on a Social Security pension, Charlie decided to bring the family to the United States where he hoped they would fare better.

The three of them came to El Paso, Texas when Francisco was nine. Charlie, an American citizen was able to obtain the necessary visas for Ruth and Francisco. Francisco was sent to grammar school where he learned English on the go. Unfortunately, no one was willing to give the sixty-five-year-old Charlie a job and so it became even harder for the family to survive in the United States. They lived in a variety of apartments and trailer houses staying in each for as long as possible before getting evicted.

When Francisco was thirteen, Charlie Stork died in an automobile accident. Ruth decided to stay in the United States. She and the boy obtained an apartment in one of the public housing projects of El Paso. Francisco was awarded a scholarship to the local Jesuit High School and soon rose to the top of his class. During his senior year, he received an Honor’s Scholarship (full tuition and living expenses) to attend Spring Hill College, a small Jesuit College in Mobile Alabama.

At Spring Hill College, Francisco majored in English Literature and Philosophy and received the college’s creative writing award. After college, a Danforth Fellowship (awarded to 40 college seniors out of approximately 5,000 applicants) allowed him to attend graduate school at Harvard University. At Harvard he studied Latin American Literature with people like Octavio Paz, the Mexican Nobel Laureate. However, the emphasis on scholarly research and writing seemed too remote and irrelevant to all that was important. So, after four years of Harvard, Francisco went to Columbia Law School. His plan was to make a living as a lawyer without abandoning his plan to write fiction. Twenty years and twelve or so legal jobs later, Francisco published his first novel. Francisco practiced law for thirty-three years in a variety of private and public venues. For the last fifteen years as a lawyer he worked at MassHousing, a state agency dedicated to financing affordable housing. He retired in 2015 and spends his time writing outside of Boston. Francisco is married to Jill Syverson-Stork. He is the father of Nicholas and Anna and the grandfather of four beautiful grandchildren

Francisco Stork is the author of ten novels.

The Way of the Jaguar was published in 2000 and was the recipient of the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize. It is the story of Ismael Díaz, a Mexican-American man awaiting execution in a Texas prison. Ordered by the Commissioner to write for two hours each day, Díaz tells the story of his descent from prominent real estate attorney in Boston to desperate searcher for the love of his youth in the seedy brothels of Mexico.

Behind the Eyes, Francisco’s second novel, was published in June 2006. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Hector Robles, an intelligent Chicano kid who tries very hard, but ultimately to no avail, to stay clear of the violence that surrounds him. Hector ends up in a reform school in San Antonio where he learns to live with courage and hope. Behind the Eyes was based on Francisco’s experiences living in the projects of El Paso.

Marcelo in the Real World (March 2009: Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic Inc.) is about Marcelo, a seventeen-year-old whom society has labeled as having a “developmental disorder” because of his pervasive interest in God and all things religious and because he does not relate to others as expected. When Marcelo is asked to spend a summer working in the mailroom of his father’s law firm, Marcelo encounters suffering, evil, and the joy and mystery of love.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors (March 2010: Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic, Inc.), is the story of the unlikely friendship between Pancho Sanchez and D.Q. (short for Daniel Quentin). When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short: If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer. But then he's assigned to help D.Q., whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. D.Q. tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto," which will help him to live out his last days fully and, he hopes, with the love of the beautiful Marisol. But as Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling for Marisol as well and he and D.Q. are forced to face emotions and decisions they never anticipated.

Irises (January 2012: Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic, Inc.), follows the fates of two sisters. Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. — if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

The Memory of Light (January 2016: Arthur A. Levine / Scholastic) is Inspired in part by the author's own experience with depression. It is the rare young adult novel that focuses not on the events leading up to a suicide attempt, but the recovery from one -- about living when life doesn't seem worth it, and how we go on anyway.

Disappeared (September 2017: Arthur A. Levine / Scholastic) is the story of Sara, a young reporter in Juárez Mexico, and her brother Emiliano. Sara's investigation of the criminal web responsible for abducting young women endangers her life and that of her brother Emiliano forcing them to make hard choices between life and justice.

Illegal (August 2020: Scholastic Press) continues the story of Sara and Emiliano from Disappeared as they flee across the border into the United States to escape a violent cartel, hoping for a better life and to bring their pursuers to justice only to discover even more difficult moral choices and greater danger.

On the Hook (May 2021: Scholastic Press) Hector wants to play chess, go to college, become an engineer... but a violent confrontation will take Hector places he never expected, including a reform school where he has to live side-by-side with his enemy, Joey. It's up to Hector to choose whether he's going to lose himself to revenge or get back to the hard work of living.

I Am Not Alone (July 2023: Scholastic Press) Alberto is an undocumented immigrant with incipient schizophrenia. As his illness deepens, he's no longer sure of anything. Grace has it all: She has a supportive boyfriend, she's on track to be valedictorian, and she's sure to go to the college of her dreams. Still, nothing feels right to her any more after the divorce of her parents. Grace and Alberto find each other and explore the borders between reality and illusion, need and strength, solitude and togetherness.