Rolando Hinojosa-Smith was an internationally acclaimed author, poet, and essayist, and a long-time professor of Spanish, English, and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. His highly acclaimed Klail City Death Trip series comprises fifteen novels. The first, Sketches of the Valley and Other Works, won the 1973 Premio Quinto Sol, an award for the best fictional work by a Chicano author. In 1976, its sequel, Klail City, won the Premio Casa de las Américas, another prestigious award for Latin American authors. He was also honored in 2013 by the National Book Critics Circle with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hinojosa-Smith died at the age of ninety-three on April 19, 2022.