Chicano Liturature - Francisco Lomali & Lucy Fisher West win awards; Flores visit; Solis Play running; Color of Violence

Hello folks. We have a few things to mention.

Meredith Abarca reading and book signing

Oct. 11. Reading and Book Signing: “Voices in the Kitchen: Views of Food and the World from Working-Class Mexican and Mexican American Women” by Dr. Meredith Abarca, Assistant Professor, English Department, UTEP. 7 p.m. University Suite, Student Union Building East, Room 312. Reception: 6 p.m. Sponsored by Chicano Studies, the Department of English, and Women’s Studies. 747-5462.

“I Am My Language: Discourses of Women and Children in the Borderlands”

Oct. 13. Presentation and Book Signing: “I Am My Language: Discourses of Women and Children in the Borderlands” by Dr. Norma González, Professor of Anthropology and Education, University of Arizona. 1:30 p.m. Quinn Hall, Room 212 at UTEP. Sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the College of Education. 747-5740.

Carlos Flores begins visit tomorrow

Carlos Flores begins his visit tomorrow, October 10 (Tues)

5-7 p.m. Open house for Mr. Flores

6 p.m. reading and book signing

Sponsored by Cultural Center de Mesilla

For information contact: 1-505-647-0138 or bbf@zianet.com

Austin High School

Critica Nueva Award

Francisco Lomeli­ has been awarded this year’s honoree of the Critica

Nueva Award

The Critica Nueva Award was established by Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya

in 1997 to bring the foremost scholars in Chicana/Chicano Literary

criticism to the University of New Mexico. The Critica Nueva Award has

been reinstituted by the University of New Mexico Libraries in honor of

Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya.

This year’s honoree is Dr. Francisco Lomelí, Professor of Chicana/Chicano Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He will return to the University of New Mexico on Oct. 25 at 4 p.m. to deliver the Critica Nueva Lecture in the Willard Room of Zimmerman Library.

The title of his lecture is “Miguel de Quintana: Early New Mexican Poet in a State of Disenchantment.” Lomeli­ taught at UNM during the 1980’s, and in 2005 wrote a book about Quintana in collaboration with Clark A. Colahan. The book is titled, “Defying the Inquisition in Colonial New Mexico.

Quintana came to New Mexico with Diego de Vargas in 1694. He settled in

Santa Cruz de la Cañada, where he became a farmer, a notary and an assistant to both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Quintana was one of the very few settlers who could read or write and he was investigated by the Holy Office or Inquisition in the 1730s as someone who tested the limitations of free thinking in the Spanish colonial world with his poetry.

Lomelí and Colahan translate and discuss Quintana’s poetry in their book. Lomelí has written or edited a number of books, including a major reference work on Chicano Literature. The UNM Bookstore will have several of his books for sale after the lecture. The lecture and discussion are free and and open to the public.

For more information contact:

Teresa Marquez, (505) 277-0582; e-mail: andaluz@unm.edu

Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu

El Paso Writers Keep Winning Awards

Lucy Fisher West’s Child of Many Rivers will be receiving the WILLA Finalist Award from Women Writing the West at their conference in October. For a cherry on top, it was also the finalist for the 2006 Writers' League of Texas Violet Crown Award. Winners and finalists will be on a panel at the Texas Book Festival in Austin on Sat. October 28. Fellow El Pasoan, David Romo's Ringside Seat to a Revolution won the Violet Crown Award in the same non-fiction category Child was in.

Color of Violence

South End Press is putting out Color of Violence in which more than “30 visionaries from around the globe call on both racial justice and antiviolence movements to collaboratively "develop strategies that challenge the criminal justice system and that also provide safety for survivors of sexual and domestic violence" (p. 223).

Engaging the intersectional nature of violence against women of color, Color of Violence both expands the definition of violence against women and places women of color at the center of a movement to end oppression in all its forms. And unlike most examinations of violence against women that recast them as "victims," this pathbreaking collection highlights the work of survivors and activists in creating strategies of resistance.”

“In the tradition of This Bridge Called My Back, Color of Violence is an urgent, bold, and essential intervention in the war against women of color, their communities, and, ultimately, us all.”

$20.00 paper | 0-89608-762-X | 336 pages
For more information on Color of Violence
please contact Alexander Dwinell at 617-547-4002
or alexander@southendpress.org

Octavio Solis Play Currently Running

Hey Pasenos, take trip to Canyon and see your fellow EPT writer's play!

Octavio Solis play “Marfa Lights" premieres at West Texas

State University A&M in Canyon, Texas on October 5-14,

2006.

From West Texas A&M Press Release

CANYON, Texas—West Texas A&M University will present the world-premiere of Marfa Lights, a potent new theatrical work by Texas native and San Francisco playwright Octavio Solis. The production marks the first performance in the Studio Theatre of the new Fine Arts Complex at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5-7 and Oct. 12-14.

In Marfa Lights, a fraternity hazing takes on a dangerous tone and unforeseen and interesting encounters lead to the play’s unique conclusion. The play confronts larger questions of identity, racism and violence with candor and surprising tenderness that can be related to any university. Marfa Lights contains adult language and intense situations not suitable for children. The production will be WTAMU’s entry in the American College Theatre Festival.

According to Royal R. Brantley, director of the production and head of the Department of Art, Communication and Theatre, Marfa Lights was specifically written for WTAMU.

“It was commissioned by the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts,” Brantley said.

The play, which runs approximately 85 minutes, will be performed without an intermission. Cast members for this world premiere production are listed by hometown, classification, major and role.

Amarillo
Michael Newman, senior theatre major—Hank
Matthew Payne, freshman mass communication/public relations major—Tubbs
Orlando Segarra, junior theatre major—Jorge
Graham Laura Harrell, senior musical theatre major—Lena
Roanoke Will Grayson, senior theatre major—Sonny
Seminole Skylar Hinds, freshman theatre major—Meiken
Vernon Dustin Swatzell, junior theatre major—Jim
Wheeler Savanna Shipp, sophomore theatre major—Babe

Solis, who met Brantley during their graduate school days at Trinity University, has been working one-on-one with the performers, making the experience exceptional for the students.

“This is definitely new and definitely different,” Brantley said. “A rare opportunity for any theatre.”

The playwright’s other works include Man of the Flesh, Prospect, Seven Visions of Encarnacion and Bethlehem. He has received NEA Playwriting and McKnight Fellowships, a National Theatre Artists Residency and the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center along with several other prestigious awards.

WTAMU students with a Buff Gold Card can attend Marfa Lights at no charge. Tickets for WTAMU theatre productions are priced at $10 to $15 each for reserved seating and $7 to $9 each for senior citizens and children 12 and under. Season tickets also are available and offer ticket holders convenience and savings. Group rates also are available. Tickets for Marfa Lights will go on sale Monday, Sept. 25. For more information, call the BIT box office at 806-651-2798.

This Friday, Christine Granados in Dallas

Friday, October, 13, 6:15 p.m.
Dallas Public Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, Texas read from
"Brides and Sinners" with Diane Gonzales Bertrand and Diana Lopez as
part of the Texas Latino Voices series presented by the Texas Center for the Book.