Holy Water, Desert Blood, Alcalá and Arellano

Manuel Ramos



AGUA SANTA/HOLY WATER
PAT MORA
University of Arizona Press, September 2007

The University of Arizona Press has announced that it will make available again Pat Mora's celebration of the spirit of women, Agua Santa/Holy Water. As the New York Times noted when the book was first released (1995), "[These] poems are proudly bilingual, an eloquent answer to purists who refuse to see language as something that lives and changes." Texas Books in Review said that these poems "celebrate women, women who are immediate and eternal, serious and humorous, sacred and profane. But always sensual."




Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Arte Público Press, August 2007

Meanwhile, Arte Público announces that the acclaimed mystery novel about the series of murders of young girls around Ciudad Juárez will be released in paperback later this year. This novel won the 2005 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery and the 2006 International Latino Book Award for Best Mystery Novel. "Gaspar de Alba not only crafts a suspenseful plot but tackles prejudice in many of its ugly forms: against gays, against Hispanics, against the poor. An in-your-face, no-holds barred story full of brutality, graphic violence, and ultimately, redemption." Booklist




PONIATOWSKA TAKES SPANISH-LANGUAGE PRIZE
My bloga comrade Gina Ruiz recently passed on this announcement:
Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska won the biennial Romulo Gallegos literature prize for a Spanish-language novel for El Tren Pasa Primero (The Train Passes First) (Alfaguara, 2005), which the AP says "tells the story of a railroad worker who becomes immersed in the struggle for labor rights in Mexico." The prize honors the best Spanish-language novel. (Among recent winners, Roberto Bolaño took the prize in 1999.)

ALCALÁ AND ARELLANO AT THE TATTERED COVER

Esteemed Chicana writer and gifted storyteller Kathleen Alcalá will discuss and sign her new book The Desert Remembers My Name: On Family and Writing (University of Arizona Press) at the Colfax Avenue Tattered Cover Book Store. "This book is a gem. I am blown away by it. Its essays are original - incredibly, refreshingly original. It is not only a personal journey, it is also a historically significant journey for writers, for Chicanas/os, women, men, and all people interested in the power of what connects us all as humans." -Emmy Pérez, author of Solstice.

"Alcalá displays an intellectual curiosity that has led her to think and write creatively about less personal matters. Her essay on the Opata peoples of Mexico is fascinating, and in another essay, she masterfully blends the harrowing experience of Andrea Yates, who drowned her five young children, with the mythic stories of Mexican folklore." - Publishers Weekly
July 10, 2007 7:30 PM

Gustavo Arellano's ¡Ask a Mexican! column won the 2006 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for the best column in a large circulation weekly. Arellano will read from and sign his new book ¡Ask a Mexican! (Scribner). Arellano explores the clichés of lowriders, busboys, and housekeepers; drunks and scoundrels; heroes and celebrities; and most important, millions upon millions of law-abiding, patriotic American citizens and their undocumented cousins who represent some $600 billion in economic power. July 11, 2007 7:30 PM- Historic LoDo


Believe it or not, that's all I got this week. The blogueros and blogueras have been writing and posting at a hot and heavy pace, all excellent, so you don't want to miss any of the great stuff coming up in the next several days.

Later.