Specials

Manuel Ramos

REYNA GRANDE
Those of us in Denver were very impressed by Reyna Grande during her recent visit to the Tattered Cover bookstore. Not only were all of us excited by her reading from her book, Across A Hundred Mountains, but we were able to talk and socialize a bit. What an inspiration. If she is participating in an event near you, you owe it to yourself to make time to go to her reading and, of course, buy her book and then read it. She has very personal stories about life as an immigrant child, the long-lasting impact on the family that such a move can have, and how she has succeeded when all the odds were against her.

CRITICA NUEVA AWARD
Francisco Lomelí has been named the recipient 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. Lomelí 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
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627

LA RAZA DE COLORADO - EL MOVIMIENTO
Last year, PBS aired the first part of the documentary La Raza de Colorado - la Historia which was produced by Lisa Olken along with the help of a number of local and nationally recognized Chicanos community activists and educators. This year, UMASyMEChA invites you to share an evening with Lisa Olken and two of those contributors to the documentary, Freddie "Freak" Trujillo and Jose Esteban Ortega to view parts of the second part of La Raza de Colorado - El Movimiento and to have the opportunity to be a part of a conversation about their first-hand experiences with the people who made the Chicano Movement come alive! Freddie and Jose have an extensive archive of photos, magazines, newpapers, recordings, articles and other memorabilia housed in Pueblo, Colorado along with their exclusive personal knowledge of the people involved in the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s into the 1970s, especially as it happened on the CU-Boulder campus. Included will be the Chicano movimiento music created and sung by local Chicano musician, Agustín Córdova.

Join UMASyMEChA on this historical journey on October 19, 6:00-8:00, Humanities 250, University of Colorado, Boulder

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The first, maybe annual, La Bloga Día de los Muertos Amoxcalli-Descansos Contest. Here's your chance to get exposure for your great piece relating to el Día de los Muertos. Through Oct. 24th we will accept prose, poetry, essay, in English or Spanish or Spanglish--just about anything concerning this indigenous/modern tradition. Fantasy, children's stories, young adult, horror, serious, or not so--anything you want to share on La Bloga. Shorter pieces are preferred (less than 500 words), since we are the editorial staff and will base decisions on quality and how little work is required of us. We will feature one prize winner each day of the week of Day of the Dead. For more details, see the September 28 issue of La Bloga. Send to labloga AT readraza DOT com.

Later.