UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center Press receives ten awards for its 2012 books

Four books published by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press won ten awards in eight categories at the Latino Literacy Now’s fifteenth annual International Latino Book Awards, held May 30, 2013, at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City.

“These awards recognize the important new scholarship being done in the field today,” says CSRC director Chon A. Noriega, who attended the awards. “And we are especially delighted to receive recognition for our fortieth-anniversary edition of one of the foundational poetry texts for the Chicano Movement, Alurista’s Floricanto en Aztlán.”

The CSRC Press received four first-place and three second-place awards and three honorable mentions:

• The Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings, by Agustín Garza, with essays by Jonathan Clark and Chris Strachwitz: 1st Place, Best History Book (English); 1st Place, Best Reference Book (English); and 2nd Place, Best Nonfiction Multi-Author.

• The second edition of Floricanto en Aztlán by Alurista, with illustrations by Judithe Hernández: 1st Place, Best Poetry Book One Author (Spanish); Honorable Mention, Best Arts Book (Spanish or Bilingual); 4and Honorable Mention, Best Gift Book.

• Rafael Ferrer, by Deborah Cullen: 1st Place, Best Arts Book (English).

• The Latino Theatre Initiative, Center Theatre Group Papers, 1980-2005, by Chantal Rodríguez: 2nd Place, Best History Book (English); 2nd Place, Best Reference Book (English); and Honorable Mention, Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book.

This is the largest number of ILBAs that the CSRC has won in a single year, bringing the total to twenty-four awards. In 2012, the CSRC Press received first-place awards from the ILBA and the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) for its L.A. Xicano exhibition catalog.

The International Latino Book Awards are held annually in New York City during BookExpo America, the largest publishing trade show in the United States. The awards are presented by Latino Literacy Now in partnership with Las Comadres para las Americas and the Instituto Cervantes.

Publications from the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press explore the Chicana/o and Latina/o experience. They showcase the latest research in a range of disciplines, presented in a variety of formats: the pre-eminent journal in the field, award-winning books, policy briefs and research reports, and historical films on DVD. CSRC Press was founded in 1969 to provide a voice for young Chicana/o academics who could not find mainstream publishers. The Press’s contribution to academic scholarship continues to grow as Chicana/o and Latina/o studies develop in new directions. The A Ver: Revisioning Art History series is distributed by the University of Minnesota Press. All other CSRC Press books are distributed by the University of Washington Press.

To learn more about the CSRC, visit the Center’s website, Wikipedia page, Facebook or email the Center.

IN OTHER LITERARY NEWS…

◙ On June 7, the eve of LGBT Pride Weekend, Skylight Books hosts its second annual “LGBT Writers Who Inspired Us.” Writers Bernard Cooper, Eduardo Santiago, Myriam Gurba, Alexis Fancher, Trebor Healy read the works of LGBT literary giants Reynaldo Arenas, Susan Sontag, Tom Spanbauer and more! Curated by Noel Alumit. Start time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Skylight Books, 1818 N Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, California 90027. For more information, visit the event’s webpage.

◙ The new issue of Somos Primos is now live. Edited by Mimi Lozano, Somos Primos is “dedicated to Hispanic heritage” including coverage of books by Latin@s.

◙ Our own Manuel Ramos is interviewed by Steve Chavis on KUVO regarding his novel, Desperado: A Mile High Noir (Arte Público Press).

◙ The Los Angeles Review of Books has published my interview with Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, editor of the new book, Rebozos de Palabras: An Helena María Viramontes Critical Reader (University of Arizona Press). As I note in the interview’s introduction, this volume “collects some of the best critical essays on and interviews with Viramontes and offers a much-needed guide to the work of one of our most significant contemporary writers. This is an important book, one that doubtless will be relied upon for years by new generations of Viramontes readers and scholars.”