Pat Mora's newest and News from Dago on "Hecho en Tejas"

CHECK OUT RIGOBERTO GONZALEZ REVIEW OF MORA'S NEWEST BOOK

Pat Mora, Adobe Odes

http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_5103856

HECHO EN TEJAS IS FINALLY OUT

THE SOUTHWESTERN WRITERS COLLECTION
at Texas State University-San Marcos

celebrates the publication of

HECHO EN TEJAS
An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature
Edited by Dagoberto Gilb
from the University of New Mexico Press



SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10
Discussions, readings, and performances featuring
Sandra Cisneros and Dagoberto Gilb
plus special guests

January 18, 2007-TEXAS STATE] The Southwestern Writers Collection (SWWC) at Texas State University-San Marcos is pleased to announce the publication of the latest volume in its book series, Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature, a historic benchmark that establishes the canon of Mexican American literature in Texas. The celebratory book launch at the SWWC on Saturday, February 10, will include discussions, readings, and performances from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (schedule below), and an exhibit focused on the Mexican American experience in Texas and the anthologized authors.

The Lone Star State's literature has long attracted local, regional, and national audiences and critics; however, the state's Mexican American voices have yet to receive the attention they deserve. In recognition of this, SWWC Curator Connie Todd and Assistant Curator Steve Davis invited award-winning author Dagoberto Gilb to edit the first-ever anthology of works by Mexican American writers from Texas.

With close to one hundred selections, Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature reaches back to the sixteenth century to begin with the exploration narrative of Texas's first Spanish-speaking writer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.

More histories and stories are told by a timeline of prose writers, including Jovita González, Américo Paredes, Rolando Hinojosa, Tomás Rivera, and Sandra Cisneros. Among the poets are Tino Villanueva, Carmen Tafolla, raúlrsalinas, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, and Ricardo Sánchez. Corridos from the turn of the twentieth century and verses sung by music legends such as Lydia Mendoza, Freddy Fender, and Selena offer a sampling of songwriters' voices. In addition to established names, Hecho en Tejas introduces such younger writers as Christine Granados, Macarena del Rocio Hernández, Tony Díaz, and Sheryl Luna, the famous Tejano authors of tomorrow.

Twenty full-color images representing the work of leading Texas Mexican artists provide additional insight into the culture highlighted by the literature, and dozens of vintage photos from the 1930s, taken by photographer Gregorio Barrios, Sr., offer intimate portraits of the Texas Mexican community during a pivotal period of its history.

In assembling this canonic reader, Gilb has created more than an anthology. Read cover to cover, Hecho en Tejas is not simply a literary showcase, but a mosaic portrait of a community. "What I have tried to do," Gilb says in the introduction, "is make Hecho en Tejas a strong, good read. Not simply as an anthology, a collection of different writers and styles, but as a book with chapters, so that all the voices might form one story, from one family's historyŠas the book puzzles forward, each piece connecting land to history, sorrow to joy, to what is Mexican, to what is American, what is assimilated, what cannot be."

Books will be for sale at the SWWC's February 10 event, and can be purchased through major booksellers or the University of New Mexico Press at www.unmpress.com. (7" x 10", 544 pages, 30 color plates, numerous halftones, $29.95, hardcover)

The Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series Editor is Curator Connie Todd; the Volume Editor is Assistant Curator Steve Davis. Additional funding for the anthology and book launch provided by the Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center, Texas State's Office of Equity and Access, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and private donors.


DAGOBERTO GILB

Dagoberto Gilb's books include The Magic of Blood, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a PEN Faulkner finalist. His novel The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña was named a New York Times Notable Book, and Woodcuts of Women earned rave reviews. For Gritos, his collection of nonfiction essays, Gilb was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has won a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Whiting Writers' Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His short stories and essays have been widely anthologized, not least in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays series, as well as appearing in magazines such as The New Yorker and Harper's. His latest novel, The Flowers, is due out in the fall of 2007. A union high-rise carpenter for many years, Gilb has also been a visiting writer at the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, the University of Wyoming, and Vassar. He currently is on the faculty of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Texas State University, in San Marcos, Texas. He lives in Austin.

HECHO EN TEJAS ON EXHIBIT

The Southwestern Writers Collection Spring 2007 exhibition highlights the new anthology with a comprehensive selection of books, photographs, and literary excerpts reflecting the Mexican American experience in Texas as seen in Hecho en Tejas-including the Collection's rare 1555 edition of Cabeza de Vaca's La relación y comentarios-plus biographical information on many of the anthologized authors. The exhibit runs February 1 through May 15, 2007.


BOOK LAUNCH | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2007
Sandra Cisneros and Dagoberto Gilb joined by special guests

The Southwestern Writers Collection celebrates the new book with an exciting day full of discussions, readings, book signings, and performances-lunch included. Special guests Sandra Cisneros and Dagoberto Gilb will be joined by Conjunto Aztlán, Tony Díaz, Christine Granados, Rolando Hinojosa, Santiago Jiménez, Jr., Sheryl Luna, Arturo Madrid, Macarena del Rocio Hernández, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, raúlrsalinas, and Carmen Tafolla.

The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are asked to please RSVP to southwesternwriters@txstate.edu, or call (512) 245-2313. The SWWC is located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University-San Marcos. Access directions online at http://www.swwc.txstate.edu. Books will be for sale at the event courtesy of Texas State University Bookstore. (7" x 10", 544 pages, 30 color plates, numerous halftones, $29.95, hardcover)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | FEBRUARY 10, 2007

10:00 am - 11:30 am
Morning Panel Discussion
Sheryl Luna, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, raúlrsalinas,
and Carmen Tafolla | moderated by Tony Díaz

11:30 am - 1:00 pm Lunch and Exhibit Viewing
12:00 noon Performance by Conjunto Aztlán

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Afternoon Panel Discussion
Sandra Cisneros, Dagoberto Gilb, Christine Granados, and
Macarena del Rocio Hernández | moderated by Arturo Madrid

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Remarks and Readings by Dagoberto Gilb and
Sandra Cisneros | introductions by Rolando Hinojosa

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Book signing with the guest authors
Performance by Santiago Jiménez, Jr.


Southwestern Writers Collection
Alkek Library Seventh Floor
Texas State University-San Marcos
Directions & event calendar: http://www.swwc.txstate.edu
512-245-2313
EXHIBIT HOURS (closed holidays)
Mon/Tue/Fri: 8 am to 5 pm
Wed/Thu: 8 am to 7 pm
Sat: 9 am to 5 pm
Sun: 2 pm to 6 pm

Admission is FREE

Hiatus until March

Hello folks,

I'm tackling another bar exam, so I will be on hiatus until March. Sorry. We'll post what we can and if any of you would like us to post something, simely make a direct request and we'll review it.

We've also run behind on our Pluma Frontirza and Libros, Libros issues. Bare with us and we will climb out of this trench soon. Meanwhile, keep tuned to La Bloga and Readraza.com to stay up to date.

Thanks.

Early Apocalypto Reviews: What The Hell’s Wrong With Mel Gibson?

December 1st, 2006 by daryl in Movies, Directors

’’

Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca Says: December 10th, 2006 at 6:04 pm

Apocalypto is more like a pornographic looney tunes than a serious film about the Maya. Looking for cover from negative reviews of the film, Mel Gibson asserts that he consulted “experts” in the field in order to portray the Maya authentically. We don’t really know what the Maya were like. What we have are perspectives based on Spanish accounts which were unlikely to represent the Maya in anything but a savage and brutal point of view. From these accounts have emerged secondary sources that only poison the pot further against the Maya and the other indigenous peoples of Mexico. My research uncovers a different Maya than the one portrayed by Gibson’s Apocalyto.

Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca, Ph.D.Visiting Scholar, Texas A&M University–Kingsville

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT

The California Chingasos

By Jesus Mena

The desmadre starts in El Chuco with some guey getting sliced and diced asta la chingada - it could end as 9/11 2.0.

For an excerpt: http://jesusmena.com

Sandra Cisneros is a Sellout!: Our Love Hate Relationship with Successful Chicano Writers, Part III

Note: Please read parts I and II of this post below

Waiting for the Fall

But what is it with us that we begin to hate our successful writers after supporting them through their careers as young writers up until they made the big time. It’s true, and I admit, there are many big egos made and even big egos made by those who haven’t made the big time -- but think they have.

However, don’t we want our authors to make it into the “mainstream,” the “big time”?

I think our dissing them once they make it is the American in us.

Chicano writers and activism

But Ray, you way, Sandra, or this writer, and that one, never comes to our rallies, we never see him yelling “si se puede.” First, that would be incorrect. Many of our writers do come to our community activist events. But others would say that when our famous writers go to rallies and the like, they are mobbed by the fans, somewhat taking away from the goal of the rally. When you’ve achieved such status as some writers have, this happens frequently.

So there are no real answers here and I do not have many solutions.

But looking back at many of the Chicana writers back in the day, for those of us who were in elementary school in the 1980s, Cisneros was probably the first Chicano(a) writer we read. In fact, aside, from an excerpt of Ernesto Galarza’s Barrio Boy in our literature anthology, the excerpt of House was the only Chicano(a) lit I was exposed to in elementary school.

Back to today

But again, in my opinion, the best Chicana writing today is being put out by smaller presses. This is especially true of the poets. And we thought poetry was dead. Then again, the big presses hardly touch poetry.

So am I dissing the “successful” writers? I don’t know. I just always root for the small guy or gal.

As a critic, looking at many of the books written today, I am still apt to choose not releasing a bad book review to a publication and only letting the good reviews out. I guess that is my weakness as a critic. I frequently leave books half finished because I cannot bare to read them.

I will have more to write about this later. I know what you’re saying. You are probably comparing me to the caveman in Mel Brook’s History of the World, Part I pissing on the wall drawing at the Vallon-Pont-d'Arc caves in what is now France. I tell you, my bladder is frequently full.

The other topic I have to write about is this: “Are many of our new writers who are getting big book deals, slipping into oblivion after their fist book is published?” I guess Cisneros would be a testament contrary to that statement. She’s not a new writers, but nevertheless, her popularity had endured. Again, are/am we/I dissing our successful writers?

We love them while they are new and struggling, up-and-coming, but our love sours and grows cold when they become successful.

In a way looking at some Chicana and Latina writers being published big time, I’m sometimes saying to myself, “Bring back Sandra! Hurry up Denise, put out another book! (oh yea, she just did), Ana Castillo we need more?” Now there are some exceptions so don’t jump on me. There are even some deserving Chicano writers who are publishing big. The other strange thing is that Chavez and Castillo chose not to publish in New York for their last books. So what is happening?

Sell outs. Vendidos. Successes and unsuccesses. Mainstream or downstream, in conclusion, I guess the only thing that is 100% SELLING OUT are Cisneros books?

Texas Store Owner takes Samaniego to Court

Texas Store owner harassed by Sheriff for warning of Minutemen

KTSM - El Paso
December 5, 2007

The Paso del Norte Civil Rights Group decided to help Jose Rodriguez, because they say his case is a prime example of someone's constitutional rights being violated. Back in November, Sheriff's deputies cited Rodriguez for posting signs on a pole outside his store in San Elizario. One warned
people of upcoming roadblocks and the other spoke out against 'Minutemen'. Sheriff's deputies gave Rodriguez a ticket for the unauthorized use of City property to post them. However, Paso del Norte says this case violates his right to free speech, and is actually part of a bigger problem of deputies harassing people who can't defend themselves. In a written statement we received from the Sheriff's Office, they declined to comment on this case due to pending litigation. Rodriguez's court date is coming up later this month,,,

http://www.ktsm.com/home/ticker/4835931.html

New Books from the University of Texas Press

Alla en el Rancho Grande. Here's a new one from U of Texas Press: Remembering the Hacienda: Religion, Authority, and Social Change inHighland Ecuador, Lyon. A pathfinding study of how indigenous peasants experienced, responded to, and remember the often-harsh conditions of servitude in Ecuador's
haciendas.

Schlatter, Aryan Cowboys: White Supremacists and the Search for a New Frontier, 1970?2000

A startling analysis of how modern white supremacists have co-opted the mythology and environment of the American West to position their cause among historically American ideals.

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/schary.html

Hernandez Castillo, and Stephen, Dissident Women: Gender and Cultural Politics in Chiapas

In this timely ethnographic study, nine Mexican and U.S. anthropologistsexamine the achievements of and challenges facing women participating inthe Zapatista movement .

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/spedis.html

Brown, Maxwell, and Little, La utz awach?: Introduction to Kaqchikel Maya Language

An innovative language-learning guide that will help students,researchers, and professionals in many fields quickly develop basic communication skills in one of the four major Mayan languages.

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/brolau.html

A Christmas Carol in Spanish
Though the Kansas City Repertory Theatre's A Christmas Carol is a long-established Kansas City tradition, there is a new way to experience the show that will be of interest to Spanish-speaking audiences.

by Steve Walker A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens - directed by Linda Ade Brand
Spencer Theatre-4949 Cherry Street
Nov. 18-Dec. 24, 2006
26th Annual Production!

Sandra Cisneros is a Sellout!: Our Love Hate Relationship with Successful Chicano Writers, Part II

Making it Big

So admiring the struggling writers may not be so much a Chicano(a) phenomena, but more of an “American” (yes, I cringe at the word too) one. “American” culture loves the rags to riches story. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Go hungry. Starving artist. Then make it big.

The greatest example of this is Elvis. You thought I was going to name a writer right?

Elvis, a trucker, raised by a single mom. Poor. Southern. He goes to become one of the biggest icons of the 20the Century and even a big icon today.

But it is that story we love and sometimes manufacture in our own minds. The early media hype of Mike Tyson, was closely tailored after Rocky. Thug taken from the street. A Mickey-like trainer, Cus D'Amato, takes him in and trains him. We just love that story and I think it transfers over into Chicano(a) Literature. I guess our literature is more “American” than we think.

After making it big, there is the fall from grace. At least some of us hope for it.

Selling out

As soon as our writers make it big, they are soon hit with the onslaught of “selling out” by Chicano(a) Literature fans. We say they are only famous because of this and that…”They really have not done much to deserve this credit…They have a big ego…Overrated…Blah,” Blah, Blah. This is also part of that “American” ideal. Once they are on top, we love to see them fall.

I think we do this to Cisneros and other writers. In Cisneros case, there is always the criticism that she is only famous for House on Mango Street. Ilan Stavans said that much of her fame was based on a small group of works. Truthfully, I think this did not take the entire writer’s career into account though. We frequently look at writer’s careers as starting with their first book. Sometimes we believe a writer is not really a writer until they have a book.

Many writers know the hard road it took before they had a book published. For Cisneros, it was House on Mango Street. Or was it? But before that, she had been publishing, I think, since the late 1970s in various journals such as Mango and America’s Review. Then she published the chapbook Bad Boys in 1980 off the Mango/Chicano Chapbook Series. I think it was actually #8.

The One Book

Many famous writers we know are famous simply because of one book. Think about that. Salinger and others. Some even if they published other stuff afterwards, they are still remembered for one book. This crosses cultural lines and is somewhat bothersome to some artists.

Los Lobos have other songs others than “La Bamba.” Their battle with the “La Bamba” stigma has been written about.

We remember the Baroque composer Pachabel for his “Canon in D.” We also remember her for…actually that’s about it.

In one NPR story they were interviewing Barber about his Adagio, and he angrily said, “I’ve written other stuff!”

Lalo Delgado, in an interview I will release later, chuckled when he talk about being known for “Stupid America” as a signature poem. I asked him about the high and lows about having a signature poem. “I wrote other stuff, too,” he said making fun of himself.

Even our statements about being published in New York are not entirely correct. Felipe Ortego’s anthology We Are Chicanos was the first anthology published by a major New York Press. That was in the early 1970s. Around that time, many books were being tapped by New York Presses including Richard Vasquez’ Chicano, the paperback edition of Ricardo Sánchez’ Canto y Grito mi liberacion (a title in Spanish at that), among others.

The flock to publish Chicanos in the early 1970s can be compared to the flock to publish “Latino(a)s” today. I think critics will agree, that just like today, when many New York publishing houses are flocking to publish “Latino(a),” and much more “Latina,” writers, it may be compared to the same rush in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, I’m hoping this rush will be for the better. The 1970s rush was short lived and few of titles published a by New York presses back then are memorable and somewhat looked upon with embarrassment by critics. Some are now being republished and to some critics, undeservingly.

On the other side of that, I recently saw Carmen Tafolla in Kansas City. She talked about when she was a blossoming writer, she would open books, and every book in its first few pages said “New York.” So, when she was young, she thought all writers came from New York and all stories had to take place there. She said she started a novel with a character in New York, but quickly realized it wasn’t her. Anyway, that’s just a side note.

Back to Cisneros. House was published I think in 1986 on Arte Público. I seem to remember it earlier, but I may be wrong. Many of us do not realize this fact (Downtown Brown has the original on the main page of his website.). We are use to seeing the New York Press paperback edition we all use in classrooms. We forget that House was published by Arte Público, though the largest of the small presses, it is still minuscule in comparison to the New York presses.

Many people also put down Arte Público because it publishes “nobodies.” But many of these writers and their books will go on to the big time. Cisneros is perhaps the greatest example. Victor Villasenor’s Rain of Gold was also first published at Arte Público. Both of these author’s book were later taken by New York publishers.

TO BE CONTINUED

Introducing New House Intel Committee Chair Silvestre Reyes. Remember the Border?

News: Nancy Pelosi's pick to head the influential House Intelligence Committee used to be the top border agent in El Paso, back when he looked like an up-and-coming Republican. Now he may be the perfect man for one of the Dems' most difficult jobs.

Read more at: http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2006/12/introducing_reyes.html


Queso Mennonita to be pasturized

Check out the NPR Story on the Mennonites of Chihuahua, all to familiar with Pasenos.

Mexico's Canadian Mennonites

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Morning Edition, November 28, 2006 · In the 1920s, the Mexican government wanted to settle the barren northern areas of the country with industrious farmers.

At the invitation of the then-president, 20,000 Mennonites left Canada and settled in the state of Chihuahua.

They are still there, a flourishing community so well known that one of Mexico's signature cheeses is named for them: queso menonita.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6548128

New Anthology Charts Latin America's Aspirations and Challenges

South End Press has released a new anthology that charts Latin America’s aspiration and challeges.

ON Dispatches from America, Noam Chomsky says, "After suffering half a century of vicious military dictatorship and state terror, and the disaster of rigid adherence to the neoliberal doctrines of the 'Washington consensus,' Latin America has undergone remarkable changes that offer real hope for a better future."

Publishers’s Descriptions

Lost in the coverage of the midterm elections here was the outcome of another historical political event, this one unfolding in Nicaragua's presidential race. "The Sandinista victory in Nicaragua shows that South America's progressive wave is now definitively lapping its way northward," says Teo Ballvé, co-editor of Dispatches from Latin America: On the Frontlines Against Neoliberalism, a new anthology documenting the rise of popular movements in Latin America.

The New York Times concurs: "[an Ortega win] would be a defeat for the Bush administration, which strongly opposed his election...[and appears] to be another gain for leftists in Latin America." Other reports, citing Ortega's campaigning on a platform of "peace and love" and "spiritual revolution," challenge interpreting his election as further evidence for Latin America's "rising Left."

While Ortega's election, the re-election of Lula in Brazil, and the compromise on Panama for the UN Security Council are not total victories for the left, they are not defeats. As Dispatches co-editor Vijay Prashad writes, "If there is no 'rise of the Left,' there is certainly a comprehensive roll-back of US influence in Latin America. That alone should draw readers to study the roots of the dynamics of change in the region. How did we go so quickly from Pinochet to neoliberalism and now to this...a period of hope, where the tide can shift in any direction?"

This change has emerged throughout the region, building from the ground up. From the rise of the Zapatistas in Chiapas to the presidential elections of indigenous leaders and radicals like Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales, long-standing and nascent movements of resistance are transforming Latin America from the laboratory of neoliberalism--popularly know as "globalization"--into a launching pad for resistance. Drawing from the pages of the well-respected NACLA Report and reporting on countries from Mexico to Argentina, Dispatches from Latin America offers a riveting series of accounts that bring new insight into the region's struggles and victories.

Progressive victories in Latin America were once seen as anomalies, but as Dispatches makes clear "business as usual" in Latin America has been forever changed.

$19.00 paper | 0-89608-768-9 | 376 pages
For more information on Dispatches from Latin America please contact Alexander Dwinell at 617-547-4002
or alexander@southendpress.org

Sandra Cisneros is a Sellout!: Our Love Hate Relationship with Successful Chicano Writers, Part I

“Sandra Cisneros is a sellout!” were the words I heard at a conference in the Texas valley as one young Tejana writer said while participating on a panel.

It’s been almost 10 years since I heard those words and it has taken me ten years to ponder them.

It is true, that Sandra Cisneros is one of our divas of Chicano(a) literature. Though they quarreled (or was it their agents), even Ilan Stavans said she’s achieved “divas status.”

But there are many reasons we are to appreciate her more than in anytime in the Chicano(a) Renaissance. I’ll go into that later.

I read several blogs over the last few months that took me back to this topic. The topic is an old one, rusting at the sides of every Chicano(a) writers and literature scholar since the dawn of our renaissance.

The old saying is “not many writers are being published by the major book publishers.” It’s a soulful mourn by a literature genre yearning for an audience. Most people, when they say that, are referring to the New York publishers.

About ten years ago, on the old Chiclit listserv, I said, that not many Chicano(a) writers have made it into the mainstream. That baited a rhetorical question from the late Octavio Romano: “While what is mainstream?”

Looking at the whiteman’s dictionary, Webster is defines “mainstream” as: “a prevailing current or direction of activity or influence.” Oxford defines is as “normal or conventional ideas, attitudes, or activities.” That’s not what I was going for, but oh well.

But in all writers and critics, there is some sense, many times self defined, on what is the “mainstream.”

So that begs the question, do we begin to hate writers once they’ve “made it.”

The Struggling Writer and American Phenomenon

I am a big fan of the struggling writer. I can speak for other critics. I very often look for self-published books or books from small presses to review and spotlight.

This comes from my fondness for the older renaissance writers like Lalo Delgado, whom I was very close to. The self-publishing master grew into a legend with only one time getting a book published in a place outside of a day’s drive of his house. Yet, he became a legend.

Some of it comes from my distaste for the saturation of the big media which is now in the hands of five big corporations. We’ll write more about that later.

I see many of these writers today following in the footsteps of now prominent Chicano(a) writers. When Sandra came to El Paso, I think it was in the late 1980s or early 1990s, she was there for almost a week doing workshops and such. I see many writers in the same mold today. I see this being done by young writers today.

To be continued

Revoluncionarias: One of my favorite picture books

I first bought this book in Mexico, a wonderful book of photos of women in the Mexican Revolution. Kudos to Cinto Puntos for putting it out in English.

Las Soldaderas: Life Blood of the Revolution

Cinco Puntos Press is proud to present the English edition of a remarkable collaboration between Mexico’s best independent press, Ediciones ERA, and Mexico’s Institute of Anthropology and History. The photographs of Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution and Elena Poniatowska’s commentary rescue the women of the Mexican Revolution from the dust and oblivion of history. These are the Adelitas and Valentinas celebrated in famous corridos mexicanos, but whose destiny was much more profound and tragic than the idealistic words of ballads. The photographs remind Poniatowska of the trail of women warriors that begins with the Spanish Conquest and continues to Mexico’s violent revolution.

UTEP Grad Wins Prominent Literary Prize

Nov. 10, 2006

Media Contact: Laura S. Ruelas

Writer, University Communications

915/747-5085

UTEP Grad Wins Prominent Literary Prize

Author Part of University’s Unique Bilingual Creative Writing Program

Argentine writer and recent UTEP graduate Betina González has won the 2006 Clarín Novel Prize for her work, "Arte menor."

Sponsored by Clarín, a major Argentine newspaper, the literary competition drew more than 800 entries. A jury of distinguished authors selected “Arte menor” as the best unpublished novel written in Spanish. González was awarded a $100,000 peso (about $32,000 U.S. dollars) royalty advance from Argentine publisher Clarín-Alfaguara. She received the award during a ceremony last month at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires.

“It is a kind of a reward for my years and years of silent writing and for the daily exercise of discipline and dedication that’s (involved) in being a writer,” said González. “This is the beginning of a new phase in my career.”

Her book narrates the story of a daughter who follows the tracks of her dead father through the testimonies of his former lovers. She tries to understand who her father was--a failed poet, terrible parent, unfaithful husband--and in some measure, redeem him. The novel, written as a thesis project under the direction of UTEP professor of language and linguistics Luis Arturo Ramos, was praised by members of the jury, including Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago and the famed Spanish novelist Rosa Montero.

González attributes her success to hard work and the support she received at UTEP from her professors in the Creative Writing program, Ramos and Johnny Payne.

“This is a huge prize, pan-Latin American, about the equivalent of winning the Pulitzer Prize in the U.S. We are very proud of Betina,” said Payne, chair of the Department of Creative Writing.

González received her master’s in Bilingual Creative Writing from UTEP this past spring. She currently attends the University of Pittsburgh, where she is working on a doctorate in Hispanic Languages and Literatures.

Since 1998, Clarín has awarded writers from across the globe an opportunity to have their works published. The goal of the award is to attract attention to the up and coming literary community and the art of classic fiction novels. This year’s entries came from Greece, Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain, the United States, Israel and Peru.

Clarín was founded by Roberto Noble in 1945. Based in Buenos Aires, the newspaper is distributed throughout Argentina. The electronic version, www.clarin.com, is one of the most visited Spanish-language newspapers on the Internet.

For more information about the Clarín Novel Prize, visit www.premios.clarin.com.ar/premio_novela/index.html.

—30—

Ariel Robello to Read at UTEP - Tejano Writers Visit the Big Apple - Chicana Play n Kansas City - Josefina Lopez in El Paso

Ariel Robello visits El Chuco

A Performance Poet Ariel Robello will visit the Sun City. Check out my review of her book My Sweet Unconditional on The Newspaper Tree.

Thursday, November 9, 2006
7:00PM
UTEP
Tomás Rivera Center
Third Floor, Union Building East

Free Admission 

Sponsored by UTEP Women’s Studies Program and
Women’s Resource Center   

Play “The Fat Free Chicana and the Snow Cap Queen: to be Staged in Kansas City

Elaine Romero’s play “The Fat Free Chicana and the Snow Cap Queen” will be staged in Kansas City, Kansas at Kansas City Kansas Community College, Nov. 9-12.

The Department of Theatre at KCKCC will present its first bi-lingual full-length production, Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 9-12.

Written by Elaine Romero and directed by Stephanie Kelman, the dram will be performed at 8pm Thursday through Saturday with a 2:30pm matinee on Sunday. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.

The play tells the story of a young Chicana who tries to change the menu at the family restaurant after learning in college that her Mexican diet is high in fat. Her struggle to come to term with her family’s value for tradition is heightened by the admonitions of the Snow Cap Queen, the character depicted on the canned lard label who comes to her as an apparition.

Tejanos to Visit the Big Apple to visit the Big Apple: Cristine Granados, Sergio Troncoso, to read along with Rigoberto Gonzalez and others

Schedule:

Carlito’s Café, TODAY --- Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.
Pochisimo: Mexicano Americanos Readings in Nueva York
1701 Lexington Ave. NYC (bet. 106-107 sts., 6 train to 103st), 212/534-7168

For a little taste of Tejas and Califas drop by Carlito’s Café to hear celebrated Mexican American artists read from their works. The line up includes MC Rigoberto Gonzalez, Christine Granados, Erasmo Guerra , Ada Limon, and Sergio Troncoso but there will be many more talented writers, poets and artists on hand to entertain.

Night and Day Restaurant, Thursday Nov. 9 from 6-8 p.m.
230 Fifth Avenue at President Street Park Slope Brooklyn, 718/399-2162

Tejano Brooklyn Fiction: Brooklyn meets Texas! Featuring Christine Granados, Erasmo Guerra and Sergio Troncoso with other Chicano and Tejano writers.
For a little taste Texas in Brooklyn head over to the Night and Day Restaurant, Thursday, Nov. 9 from 6-8 p.m. where three celebrated Texas authors will read from their books.

The Hudson Valley Writer’s Center, Sunday Nov. 12 from 4:30 p.m.
300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, New York, (914) 332-5953

All three authors are featured in Dagoberto Gilb’s latest anthology Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature, which will be published by University of New Mexico Press next year.

Erasmo Guerra was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. He is the author of the novel Between Dances, which won the Lambda Literary Award, and he is the editor of the non-fiction collection Latin Lovers: True Stories of Latin Men in Love.

His work has appeared in a number of journals and magazines, newspapers and anthologies, including New World: Young Latino Writers, and forthcoming in Hecho en Tejas and Fifteen Candles. Guerra is a regular contributor to The Texas Observer. He has been awarded writing grants from the Vermont Studio Center, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He graduated from the New School and lives in Washington Heights.

Ada Limón is originally from Sonoma, California. A graduate of the Creative Writing Program at New York University, she has received fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, New York Foundation for the Arts, and won the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines, including, the Iowa Review, Slate, Watchword, Poetry Daily, Tarpaulin Sky, LIT, Painted Bride Quarterly, and others. Her first book lucky wreck was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize and her second book this big fake world is was the winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize and is due out in the Fall. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her new bike and doesn't have any tattoos.

Host: Urayoán Noel was born in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has lived in New York City since 1999. He is a poet, performer, critic, translator, and author of two books of poetry: the concept book Las flores del mall (Alamala Eds., 2000 & 2003), and the recently published Kool Logic / La lógica kool (Bilingual Press). A third collection, entitled Boringkén, is forthcoming (with spoken word CD) from Ediciones Vértigo in Puerto Rico.
He has given readings and performances throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as well as in the Dominican Republic and Perú. In collaboration with composer/musician Monxo López, he recorded the rock/spoken word DVD Kool Logic Sessions: Poems, Pop Songs, Laugh Tracts (Bilingual Press).
His work appears in numerous journals (see below) and in such anthologies as eXpresiones: generación X (Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), Los nuevos caníbales v.2: antología de la más reciente poesía del Caribe hispano (Isla Negra Eds.), and the forthcoming 24 Latino Poets (Univ. of Arizona Press).

Urayoán serves on the board of directors of Latino Artists Round Table and ‘Spanic Attack and is lead vocalist for the rock band objet petit a. A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico (Río Piedras) and Stanford University, he is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University. He lives, writes, and rocks in the South Bronx, near Yankee Stadium.

Christine Granados, a native El Pasoan, is a multi-tasking specialist, or as her father-in-law puts it “smart enough to know a little bit about everything and not know a lot about anything.” She is also a sleep deprived stay-at-home mother of two sons and a freelance journalist in Rockdale, Texas.

Her collection of short stories, Brides and Sinners in El Chuco was written piecemeal at three and four in the morning or while nursing her oldest son and finishing her MFA degree.

The book was published by the “kid friendly” University of Arizona Press in 2006. She was winner of the 2006 Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation Award, a grant given by Sandra Cisneros to further the aspirations of new writers.

Her stories have been featured in Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas-Mexican Literature, Texas Observer, El Andar Magazine, Big Tex[t] and the Newspaper Tree. She is a graduate of UT El Paso's School of Communications and the “kid friendly” MFA creative writing program at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

Erasmo Guerra was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. He is the author of the novel Between Dances, which won the Lambda Literary Award, and he is the editor of the non-fiction collection Latin Lovers: True Stories of Latin Men in Love.

His work has appeared in a number of journals and magazines, newspapers and anthologies, including New World: Young Latino Writers, and forthcoming in Hecho en Tejas and Fifteen Candles. Guerra is a regular contributor to The Texas Observer. He has been awarded writing grants from the Vermont Studio Center, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He graduated from the New School and lives in Washington Heights.

Sergio Troncoso, the son of Mexican immigrants, was born in El Paso, Texas and now lives in New York City. After graduating from Harvard College, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Mexico and studied international relations and
philosophy at Yale University.

Troncoso's stories have been featured in many anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (W.W. Norton), Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature (Pearson/Longman Publishing), Once Upon a Cuento (Curbstone Press), Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas-Mexican Literature (University of New Mexico Press), City Wilds Essays and Stories about Urban Nature (University of Georgia Press), and New World: Young Latino Writers (Dell Publishing).

His work has also appeared in Encyclopedia Latina, Newsday, The El Paso Times, Hadassah Magazine, Other Voices, Blue Mesa Review, and many other newspapers and magazines.

In 1999, his book of short stories, The Last Tortilla and Other Stories (University of Arizona Press), won the Premio Aztlán for the best book by a new Chicano writer, and the Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association. His novel, The Nature of Truth (Northwestern University Press), was published in 2003, and explores righteousness and evil, Yale
and the Holocaust. Please visit his award-winning website at
www.sergiotroncoso.com.

Rigoberto González is the author of two poetry books, So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water until It Breaks, a National Poetry Series selection, and Other Fugitives and Other Strangers; two bilingual children’s books: Soledad Sigh-Sighs/ Soledad Suspiros and Antonio’s Card/ La tarjeta de Antonio, which was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award; the novel Crossing Vines, winner of ForeWord Magazine’s Fiction Book of the Year Award; and a memoir, Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa.

The recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, and of various international artist residencies, including stays in Spain, Brazil, Costa Rica and Scotland, he writes twice a month a Latino book column, now entering its fifth year, for the El Paso Times of Texas. He is contributing editor for Poets and Writers Magazine, a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and is on the Advisory Circle of Con Tinta, a collective of Chicano/ Latino activist writers. He lives and works in New York City.

Chicana Playwright Josefina Lopez to visit El Paso

Playwright Josefina Lopez will visit EP. Make sure to make the "Unleashing the Wild side: A Writing workshop" with Josefina Lopez.

Friday, November 10 from 1:00-3:00 pm

At the little temple (located on the EL Paso Community College Rio Grande campus),906 N. El Paso Street

(Free Parking in the lots surrounding the little

temple)

There are a limited number of seats so please call

831-2411 to sign up ahead of time!

Sponsored by: El Paso Community College & UTEP.s Women.s Studies; Theatre, Dance & Film; Creative Writing; Chicano Studies; women.s Resource Center, and Languages and Linguistics

Alberto Rios website revamped

I was flipping through the web the other day and caught on to Henry Rios’ web page and notice that it has been revamped. Pretty impressive. I miss “Red, Red, wine” though.

New Bilingual Title from CALACA Press

We mentioned this in our last “Libros, Libros” publication.” YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE. But we received an email about it so here it is again:

AQUI ESTAMOS...YA NOS VAMOS, HERE WE ARE...HERE WE GO by Bustos, Francisco J. & Wickert, Michael Cheno

$12.00 / Paper / pp.96 Calaca Press/RedCalacaArts, 2006 ISBN: 0-9717035-5-8

Poetry. Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. This bilingual collection of poetry and prose by Francisco J. Bustos and Michael Cheno Wickert explores the unique relationship between people and the places they inhabit in the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area. As Bustos writes in his introduction: "there are those that say that here, there are only tornadoes wherefrom shadows come, step-on, usurp and shake to then leave; or, at times, to stay and rule temporarily, scarring our homes, our streets and our communal spaces. But there are also those who are aware of the shadows that envelop us; and so we confirm, between fragments and imbalances, that here, we can also witness the birth and flowering of a multifaceted culture which navigates and struggles to liberate itself...here, mixture is the root, and the root that we bear within simultaneously leaves its mark with every step we take."

http://www.spdbooks.org/details.asp?bookid=0971703558

Authors of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption to read in Minneapolis, MN

Join authors of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption who will be reading from their work on November 18th from 7 to 9 pm at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance, 500 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN. more info

Carlos Morton in Poland

Just got an out of office reply from Carlos. Looks like he’ll be in Poland until Aug. 2007. Wow.