Awards, Author Events, More Free Books

COLORADO BOOK AWARDS

There is some excellent writing among the finalists for this year's Colorado Book Award in the category of Fiction/Literary:

Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice, One World/Ballantine Books
Home Pool: Stories of Fly Fishing and Lesser Passions by Bruce Ducker, Stackpole Books
The Song of Jonah by Gene Geurin, University of New Mexico Press
People of the Whale by Linda Hogan, W.W. Norton
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, Ecco

The awards announcement from the Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book included this summary of one of the books that should have special interest to La Bloga readers:

The Song of Jonah by Gene Guerin

Unjustly accused in a minor sex scandal, Fr. Jon Armitage, a charismatic but brash young priest accustomed to hobnobbing with the upper crust of New England society, is exiled to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in the early 1960s. There, in the bishop’s office, he discovers mediocrity and corruption to match anything from his previous situation and is assigned to the remote parish of Nueve Niños. Squatting at the edge of an ancient crater lake on the barren plains of northeastern New Mexico, Nueve Niños, with its long-standing reputation for mistreating its pastors, is an alien world that will prove his ultimate testing ground. Through his slow, often reluctant immersion into the lives of the villagers, Fr. Jon eventually gains insight into himself and his ultimate calling.

Gene Guerin was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1938 and educated in Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and Rome, Italy. Guerin is a freelance writer of documentaries and corporate videos for which he has received numerous national awards. His work includes an award-winning, hour length Spanish-language documentary on Pope John Paul’s visit to Colorado for World Youth Day 1993. Guerin also hosted a public service half-hour program featuring Hispanic issues on Denver’s Channel 2 in the 1970s. Most recently, he has been a writer for a non-profit organization called Cooperative for Education, which supplies textbooks and installs libraries and computer labs for the indigenous children of Guatemala’s highlands.



Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, is a finalist in the Young Adult Literature category.

The 18th annual Colorado Book Award winners will be presented on Monday, June 22 at 3:30 pm at the Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival (June 21-26, 2009). Aspen Summer Words has been the place to be for anyone with a passion for the written word. One of the nation’s “Top Ten Literary Gatherings” (USA Today), this 6-day celebration of words, stories and ideas consists of a morning writing retreat, an afternoon literary festival, and professional consultations with agents and editors, bringing some of the world’s most interesting and engaging literary talent to Aspen.
Congratulations to all the finalists.

HIT LIST READING AND SIGNING EVENTS

Texas Friday, May 8, 2009 6:30 p.m. Murder By The Book 2342 Bissonnet Houston, TX 77005 Meet Lucha Corpi, Sarah Cortez, Bertha Jacobson and Arthur Muñoz Thursday, May 21, 2009 5:00 p.m. The Twig Book Shop 5005 Broadway San Antonio, TX 78209 Meet Bertha Jacobson and Arthur Muñoz New York Thursday, May 14, 2009 6:00 p.m. East Harlem Cafe 1651 Lexington Ave (@104th St.) New York, NY 10029 Meet Carlos Hernanez, Liz Martínez, Richie Narvaez and Sergio Troncoso Thursday, May 21, 2009 6:30 p.m. Mysterious Book Shop 58 Warren St. New York, NY 10007 Meet Sarah Cortez, Carlos Hernanez, Liz Martínez, Richie Narvaez and Sergio Troncoso Saturday, May 30, 2009 3:30 p.m. Author Signing at BookExpo America Jacob K. Javits Convention Center 635 West 34th Street New York, NY 10001 Meet Carlos Hernández, Liz Martínez, Richie Narvaez and Sergio Troncoso Colorado Thursday, May 21, 2009 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover 2526 East Colfax Ave Denver, CO 80206 Meet Mario Acevedo and Manuel Ramos California Saturday, May 16, 2009 3:00 p.m. The Mystery Bookstore 1036-C Broxton Ave Los Angeles, CA 90024 Meet S. Ramos O'Briant and L.M. Quinn

La Bloga is helping to spread the written word in a very practical way - free books. We are partnering with Hachette Book Group during its promotion of free books recognizing May's Latino Book Month. Hachette is offering a library of five titles, including:

1. B as in Beauty - Alberto Ferreras

2. Into the Beautiful North - Luis Urrea

3. Hungry Woman in Paris - Josefina Lopez

4. The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos - Margaret Mascarenhas

5. Houston, We Have a Problema - Gwendolyn Zepeda

Click on the links in the titles to find out more about these novels.

To qualify for your five books, click here to send your name and a street address along with the answers to the following questions taken from the posts of the blogueros or blogueras earlier this week.

1. What East L.A. restaurant offers "unequalled pleasure" in a very special specialty?
2. What college has sponsored, since 1996, a summer conference dedicated to "advanced writers seeking to recharge, reconnect, and nourish their creative development"?
3. What was taken from René on his first day at his new school?

That's it on another beautiful day in Colorado. Read to succeed.

Later.