1975	graduated Immaculate Heart College with a B.A. in English Literature
1977	Statement Magazine, her first prize in a literary contest for her story “Requiem for the Poor” from California State University, Los Angeles, where she attended.
1978	Statement Magazine, for her story “The Broken Web”. She co-coordinated the Los Angeles Latino/a Writer’s Association.
1979	awarded the fiction prize in the University of California at Irvine Chicano Literary Contest for her story “Birthday”.
1981	left the MFA program at UC Irvine, but later return to finish her degree
1983	Viramontes’ stories began to be published in small magazines such as Maize and Xhisme Arte Magazine, and anthologies such as Cuentos: Stories by Latinas
1985	her first book, The Moths and Other Stories, published by Arte Publico Press. One of her stories was also published in the anthology Women of Her World.
1988	collaborated with Maria Herrera Sobek on the anthology Chicana Creativity and Criticism: Creative Frontiers in American Literature, published by University of New Mexico Press. Also co-founded the Southern California Latino Writers and Filmmakers group.
1989	received a National Endowment for the Arts of Fellowship to attend a workshop given by Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the Sundance Institute.
1990-1993	Was the Vice President and Literary Editor for Xhisme Arte Magazine
1993	published her second book of stories, Paris Rats in E.L.A., and collaborated with Maria Herrera Sobek on a second anthology Chicana Writers: On Word and Film, published by Third Woman Press.
1994	finished and was awarded her MFA degree from UC Irvine
1995	published her first novel, Under the Feet of Jesus
2006	won the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature, as well as the John Dos Passos Award for Literature
2007	seventeen-years in the making, her second novel, Their Dogs Came With Them, was published by Atria Books. She was also named a 2007 USA Ford Fellow by United States Artists, a foundation which supports America’s artists