Friday, July 8, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Free. Open to the public.Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Arts Center
600 River Street
Austin, TX 78701
More than 20 nationally recognized Latino poets from across the U.S. will gather in Austin, Texas, for CantoMundo, a national poetry workshop dedicated to supporting and developing Latina/o poetics.
On Friday, July 8, 2011, at 7:30 p.m., these poets will present a free poetry reading that will be open to the public at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Arts Center. A reception will follow the reading.
These participants in CantoMundo represent the best of Latina/o poetry in the United States. Some of the featured award-winning and nationally recognized poets include: Millicent Borges Acardi (New York City), Francisco Aragón (Washington D.C.), Oscar Bermeo (California), Eduardo Corral (Arizona), Carolina Ebeid (Austin, Texas), Amalia Ortíz (Texas/California), Luivette Resto (California), and ire’ne lara silva (Austin, Texas), among others.
Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 7 p.m.
Free. Open to the public.Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Arts Center
600 River Street
Austin, TX 78701
Award-winning poets Judith Ortíz Cofer and Benjamin Alire Sáenz will read from their acclaimed poetry collections at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 9, 2011. A reception and book signing will follow.
This event is hosted by CantoMundo, a national poetry workshop dedicated to supporting and developing Latina/o poetics. CantoMundo provides a space where Latina/o poets can nurture and enhance their poetics; lecture and learn about aspects of Latina/o poetics currently not being discussed by the mainstream publishers and critics; and network with peer poets to enrich and further disseminate Latina/o poetry. The Center for Mexican American Studies of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Texas at Austin is the primary sponsor of CantoMundo. For the complete list of CantoMundo poets, please visit this link.
Participating authors include Mario Acevedo, Kathy Brandt, Laurie Wagner Buyer, Margaret Coel, W.C. Jameson, Mara Purl, Joe Stone, and Susan Tweit.
Tattered Cover, Colfax Avenue, Denver: July 6 2011 7:30 pm Editor W.C. Jameson and many contributors to the new book An Elevated View: Colorado Writers on Writing (Seven Oaks Publishing) will discuss and sign this eclectic collection. Jameson has long been interested in why writers do what they do. He has also wondered how living in Colorado specifically influences the writing experience. So he asked authors, with no rules or boundaries, to share whatever they wanted about their art and lives. This collection offers a peek inside the minds of Colorado authors as they reflect on topics like the writing process, identity as shaped by place, and the stronghold of Colorado’s history as a catalyst for creativity.
Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com
For an upcoming issue, Creative Nonfiction is seeking new essays about true crimes—detailed reports of premeditation, follow-through and aftermath, whether gleaned from police blotters or the news, passed down as small-town legend or family lore, or committed in cold blood. We want true stories of petty theft, identity theft, embezzlement or first-degree murder; of jaywalking, selling (or maybe buying) weed or assault; of crimes and punishments and unsolved mysteries. Think The Devil in the White City (Larson), In Cold Blood (Capote) and "Iphigenia in Forest Hills" (Malcolm); or Half a Life (Strauss), Lucky (Sebold) and The Night of the Gun (Carr).
If it’s against the law and someone—maybe even you!—did it anyway, we want to know all about it. We’re looking for well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice. Essays can be serious, humorous or somewhere in between. Creative Nonfiction editors will award $1000 for Best Essay.
Guidelines: Essays must be unpublished, 4,000 words maximum, postmarked by September 30, 2011, and clearly marked “True Crime” on both the essay and the outside of the envelope. There is a $20 reading fee (or send a reading fee of $25 to include a 4-issue CNF subscription–U.S. submitters only); multiple entries are welcome ($20/essay) as are entries from outside the U.S. (though due to shipping costs, the subscription deal is not valid). Please send manuscript, accompanied by a cover letter with complete contact information including the title of the essay, word count, SASE and payment to:
Creative Nonfiction
Attn: True Crime
5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
August 4 - 7, 2011
Join us as the Steinbeck Festival takes on friends, foes and accomplices of all stripes, in literature, arts and ideas, and in Steinbeck. This four-day festival of books, talks, food, tours and visual and performing arts will be based in Salinas, with Steinbeck Festival International Fringe Fest events taking place in cities of letters throughout the world. Please click here for the 2011 festival schedule. Among the many presenters are some familiar names: Tim Z. Hernandez, David Dominquez, Adela Castillo, and José Alejandro Morán. Plus, there are bilingual readings for kids, and a special compare and contrast between Steinbeck and Gabriel García Márquez.
Enemy in Blue
Derek Blass
Rogue Books, 2011 (self-published)
[blurb from the publisher]
The videotaped murder of an illegal immigrant by a racist police officer draws Cruz Marquez, a young lawyer, into an action-packed journey to preserve the evidence. Cruz teams up with a childhood friend to pursue the video, but finds that many other ruthless people are doing the same to preserve their own lives. Their path crosses Officer Roman Martinez, one of the cops at the scene of the murder, and the three of them form an unlikely alliance in a quest to obtain, protect, and then disseminate the video. Their success depends on surviving the Chief of Police's sinister plotting, assassination attempts by a deranged hit man, and the raw force of Sergeant Shaver-their enemy in blue.
Enemy in Blue is fast-paced and thrilling through the end, when Cruz discovers the depths of the atrocities committed by Sergeant Shaver and the Chief of Police.
About the author:
Derek Blass is an author and attorney in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Duke University and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
In Colorado, Derek has served as the co-Chair of Mayor Hickenlooper's Denver Latino Commission, and was recently selected to serve as a co-Chair of the Denver Chapter of the Colorado Latino Forum. Derek was named as a Colorado Superlawyer "Rising Star" in 2010 and 2011, and was awarded the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association's 2010 award for most Outstanding Young Hispanic Lawyer.
Visit his website at www.rogue-books.com.
Check out his blog on writing at derekblass.wordpress.com.
Lyrics For Country Songs I Haven't Written Yet
©Manuel Ramos, 20111. Now that I’m outta your life,
you best be gettin’ outta my bed.
2. Let’s not talk about what might'a been,
stones and glass houses don’t mix.
Not one of us is without any sin,
but I don't judge the things I can’t fix.
3. I was born at night,
but not last night,
is what I should have said.
But more lessons are learned
by the heart
than by the head. 4. What can I do
to forget about you?
And what can I say
that will make you stay?
5. Bought my ticket for the midnight bus,
overstayed my welcome.
Thought there was a chance for us,
she cleared that up, and then some.
Just havin' fun.
Later.
Manuel, muchas gracias for the reference to my book. So far, I have been getting very positive reviews on the story!
ReplyDeleteIt would be wonderful to be able to follow in your footsteps. I look forward to reading your next book after enjoying "King of the Chicanos" recently!