Monday, January 31, 2011

CON TINTA HONORS HELENA MARÍA VIRAMONTES AT AWP CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Con Tinta, a Chicano & Latino Writers’ Collective, is hosting its 6th annual celebration at the upcoming AWP conference in Washington, D.C., scheduled for February 2-5, 2011. Con Tinta’s event will feature an award presentation and a free buffet/cash bar. Alero Restaurant & Lounge (1301 U St. NW suite 113 Washington, D.C. 20009) will host our event on Thursday, February 3, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. For directions, visit here. The public is invited.

We are excited to announce that the recipient of this year’s Con Tinta Achievement Award is Helena María Viramontes. Con Tinta is recognizing Helena for her years of service to the Chicano/Latino literary community, her excellence in teaching, and her history of publication. On and off the page, she has left her mark on our community and beyond. Without a doubt, she reflects our mission of affirming a pro-active presence in American literature.

PAST RECIPIENTS: Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, raúlrsalinas, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Sandra María Esteves, Tato Laviera, Carlos Cortez, Patti Hartmann, Abelardo “Lalo” Delgado, and Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba.

At this time, Con Tinta is soliciting donations from organizations and individuals to help offset costs ($1000.00) for this event. In return, we will be sure to publicly thank all donors and supporters during the course of the evening’s events and also in the event’s program.

Those wishing to support the 2011 Con Tinta gathering and awards ceremony can do so by check or via Paypal (which accepts credit cards). Pilgrimage Press, Inc., a nonprofit literary press, will receive these donations, provide tax documentation for donors, and ensure that all funds received support Con Tinta.

To contribute by check: Mail contribution to "Pilgrimage," with "Con Tinta" on the memo line, to: Pilgrimage, PO Box 9110, Pueblo, CO 81008.

To contribute via Paypal: From http://www.paypal.com/, use the "send money" feature to send your contribution to: paypal@pilgrimagepress.org.

Please send questions about donating to: Maria Melendez, Editor/Publisher, Pilgrimage, editor@pilgrimagepress.org.

Please consider yourself and your guest(s) invited to our Con Tinta Celebration. If you have any questions about the celebration, please contact richyanez@hotmail.com or at 915-831-2630.

◙ Speaking of AWP...

I will be moderating a panel on Friday, February 4:

Metafiction Latino: Beyond Magical Realism
10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.
Thurgood Marshall West Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

Panel Description: (Daniel Olivas, Kathleen Alcalá, Xánath Caraza, Susana Chávez-Silverman, Salvador Plascencia) The novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, is the seminal work of magical realism that has cast a long—and sometimes constraining—shadow over Latino writers. Yet metafiction (which acknowledges the reader’s role in literature and often breaks the wall between fiction and memoir) has emerged from this shadow to stand on its own. The panelists will share their own works of metafiction and discuss its role in contemporary Latino literature.

After the panel, at 12:30 to 1:00, I will be at the University of Arizona Press booth (Booth #207) where you may pre-order my new novel, The Book of Want...I will be signing bookplates for all who pre-order. And then at 3:00, I will be on another panel for the Norton Anthology, Hint Fiction, edited by Robert Swartwood, also followed by a book signing.

I hope you can make it to my panels as well as all of the other wonderful panels during AWP. For a complete list of events, visit here.

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