National Latino Writers Conference Day 2

Michael Sedano

An exhausting day of workshops, open mic readings, banquet, awards. Superb presentations by readers. Again, I apologize for not making the effort to name each individual, but promise to exert some diligence within the next few days to correct these shortcomings.

On another hand, the fotos today came out superbly. But then, several of these were shot by Michelle Adam, who has an excellent eye for a shot.

Herein find Valerie Martínez' poetry workshop, "On the Brink: Writing the Unpredictable Poem"; Salomé Martínez-Lutz' "Things to Consider When You Want to Write a Play"; Open Mic; Agents Panel; Children's Literature Panel; Publisher & Editor's Panel; Banquet.

Banquet photos include Premio Aztlán honoree Patricia Santana, reading from her beautiful novel, Ghosts of El Grullo, and Keynote speaker Josefina López, reading from her stimulating novel, "Hungry Woman in Paris."

Gilb, Benedetti, Writing Contests, Valdez

DAGOBERTO GILB

La Bloga wishes Dagoberto Gilb a quick recovery - we were saddened to hear of his health issues but we understand that he is doing well and should be back writing soon, which is great news.

A family representative released this statement on May 11:

Dagoberto Gilb had a minor stroke on April 29. He is grateful for everybody's concern and well wishes, and is now privately recuperating in rehab. He will be released within a few weeks and is looking forward to resuming writing and working.

The award-winning writer's most recent novel is The Flowers (2008). Prior to that he edited Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature (2007). Gilb is a tenured professor in the creative writing program at Texas State University in San Marcos. You can find out much more about the writer on his website, click here.

Those of you who want to send your best wishes to Mr. Gilb can post a comment here on La Bloga and we will make sure he gets your messages.

I came across the following quote attributed to Dagoberto Gilb:

Write from the gut and soul. Spill it. Write from las alturas and from hoyos (avoid cheap, italicized, affected use of Spanish words). Don't offer excuses, explanations, apologies, apologias (the Latin). Remember Danny Santiago? His theme, his gimmick and hook, was being Chicano. Explaining, i.e., apologia lit. In other words, don't write for Them. Don't respond to their issues (if they ask about the gang problems in your community, ask them what they're doing about their biker and pedophile problems). Try to please God or the Virgin and not others (well, Others). But privately. As in silent prayer. They know you are flesh, know your tears of joy and pain. You will quit your day job; if you're a writer, you'll be fired often enough, anyway. If you want to be The Leader of the People, if you want to be a Saint, if you want to be The Guru, please don't pretend to be first of all a writer. Unless you're dead.
Notes on Lit from the Americas



MARIO BENEDETTI

From the Associated Press:

Mario Benedetti, a prolific Uruguayan writer whose novels and poems reflect the idiosyncrasies of Montevideo's middle class and a social commitment forged by years in exile from a military dictatorship, died Sunday, May 17, his secretary said. He was 88.

Benedetti died at his home in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, personal secretary Ariel Silva said. He had suffered from respiratory and intestinal problems for more than a year, and had been released from a hospital on May 6.

Called "Don Mario" by his friends, the mustachioed author penned more than 60 novels, poems, short stories and plays, winning honors including Bulgaria's Jristo Borev award for poetry and essays in 1985, and Amnesty International's Golden Flame in 1986. In 1999 he won the Queen Sofia prize for Iberoamerican poetry.

His writings on love, politics and life in Uruguay's capital were turned into popular songs and a movie, and his readings in his homeland attracted sold-out crowds.

Read more at this jump.

For a look at some of the world-wide reaction to Mr. Benedetti's death, click here. Or here. Or here.

ESQUIRE WRITING CONTEST

Esquire made this recent announcement concerning its writing contest:

This contest is open to all, and the winning story will be published in a future issue of the magazine (as well as here, the new online home of Esquire fiction).

We encourage you to enter, but you have to follow the rules. The first and most important rule — besides, of course, that the story has to be original — is that the story must be based on one of three titles that we have provided.

...

Second rule: Your story cannot exceed 4,000 words. We are serious about that, too.

Other rules: You may submit only one story. The contest begins on May 1, 2009. All entries are due by midnight of August 1, 2009 and must be submitted electronically here at esquiresubmissions.com. (Yet more official rules here.)

First prize: publication in Esquire and $2,500.

Simple. Pick your title and start writing. And don't disappoint us.

LA BLOGA FLASH FICTION WRITING CONTEST?

Because I had such a good time writing my half-dozen pieces for ficción rápida, my post last week, I've been thinking about sponsoring a flash (i.e., very short) fiction contest here on La Bloga. We can't offer $2,500 like Esquire, but we can get you published here on our blog. And I may come up with a signed book or two, from authors you will certainly recognize, as additional prizes. But the contest won't happen unless there is significant interest. So, if you like this idea post a comment and let me know. If we get enough interest, I'll have more details next week.


LAST MINUTE NOTE - LUIS VALDEZ AT CAL POLY TONIGHT
The man who has been called the father of Chicano theater will give a lecture at Cal Poly on May 22 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Phillips Hall at the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center in Building 6, room 124, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Playwright, author and film director Luis Valdez will speak followed by a book signing from 8 to 10 p.m., said Gloria Velazquez, a Cal Poly professor of modern languages and literature. The event is free and open to the public.

Valdez founded his internationally renowned theater company, El Teatro Campesino (The Farm Workers’ Theater) in 1965 during the United Farm Workers struggle and the Great Delano Grape Strike in the Central Valley. His play Zoot Suit is considered a masterpiece of the American Theater as well as the first Chicano play on Broadway and the first Chicano major feature film, Velazquez said. For more information, e-mail gvelasqu@calpoly.edu.

That's it -

Later.

National Latino Writers Conference

Here are a handful of snapshots from Thursday's Day One of the 2009 National Latino Writers Conference. 

Each day concludes with a beautiful event, a ten minute Open Mic concert. Writers get ten minutes, timed to the second, to share their work, poem, story, novel. My apologies to the writers that I have not documented their names here.

This is La Bloga's René Colato Laínez and his Los Bloguitos teammates. Below, Malín Alegría enjoys a tasty moment of poetry.








Here Greta Pullen and a National Hispanic Cultural Center staff member draw the names.
Laughter during Demetria Martínez' seminar on writing memoir.

Lydia Gil workshop on cultural journalism. Photographers will appreciate the challenge of shooting against a white screen in a dimly illuminated auditorium.

A moment of mirth during Reyna Grande's novel writing seminar. Another low light space. I dislike flash, so intrusive.

The morning opens with an alumna of the NHCC's youth workshops. Maybe Carlos will send us the poem that drew tears from some of the morning plenary session attendees.
Felipe Ortego y Gasca's address on the status of latino letters. Perhaps La Bloga can share the text of Dr. Ortego's address?
The host with the most, Carlos Vásquez, Director of History and Literary Arts. Carlos and the staff run a fantastic event. Warm hospitality, a beautiful facility. ¡Ajúa¡ Carlos & gente.

Following are an NHCC board member, and the director of the Center, Danny López.

Libertad Cautiva- Captive Liberty

Jesus Fernando Liera Cruz, a junior at Sierra Vista High School in Baldwin Park, was honored by the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE). Libertad Cautiva won the statewide essay contest, earning him a $1,000 scholarship. He addressed his poem at the Seal of Excellence Award Banquet in Long Beach. Here is the poem in Spanish and English.

Libertad Cautiva

Una nueva vida, una nueva lengua, una nueva cultura

Pero con la misma esperanza de siempre, triunfar.



Todos en la sociedad me llamaban inmigrante, inmigrante!

Pobre sociedad discriminante! al no saber lo que es un inmigrante.



Inmigrante… palabra hermana de injusticia,

Prima de discriminación y madre de libertad.


Inmigrante, viajero de Dios con pasaporte universal.


El silencio es un inmigrante.

Y todos en el mundo pueden escuchar,

Gracias a aquel que no podía oír.



El aire es un inmigrante.

Y el humano es este país,

Que necesita a el aire para vivir!

Cubro mis oídos para poder escuchar,

Como el silencio me grita,

Y me dice lo que calla.



Inmigrante, viviendo en la colonia Ilusión,

Entre la calle Sueños y la avenida Esperanza.



Inmigrante, persona que con sus propias manos

Un castillo puede construir, pero no tenerlo!



Inmigrante, persona que para ir al trabajo

Tiene que cruzar las ciudades:

Pobreza, Sufrimiento, Miedo, Racismo, Humillación,

Para poder llegar a su trabajo…

Su gran trabajo, la empresa llamada,

ESCLAVITUD!



Inmigrante, obligado a darle la bienvenida

Al adiós de la libertad de expresión,

De derechos y felicidad.



Y quien no es Inmigrante en esta vida?

Los que venimos a este país que somos pobres

Nos dicen Inmigrantes,

Los que vienen con dinero, les dicen BIENVENIDOS.



Yo no se quienes son ustedes,

Ni que es lo que quieren,

Solo se que yo no soy un Inmigrante,

Que tengo nombre y apellido,

Que talvez no se en donde estoy

Pero si porque!



Talvez no se la respuesta,

Tampoco la solución,

Pero lo único que se,

Es que en el Cielo el único pasaporte que necesito…

Es mi corazón!



Pero mientras tanto seguiré viviendo aquí,

Aprendiendo un nuevo idioma, una nueva cultura,

Porque a mi no me separa un papel que diga quien soy yo.



Porque aun que viva cautivo en el país de la libertad,

Seguiré luchando por aprender este nuevo idioma

Para que a sí mi silencio se escuche

Y no quede en el frío anonimato.



Porque no existe mudo que no sepa hablar,

Existen sordos que al silencio no quieren escuchar

No existe sueño que se pueda lograr

Hasta que lo liberes y se convierta en realidad.



Porque los inmigrantes ya no queremos soñar silencio

Queremos tener la oportunidad de convertirlo en realidad,

Queremos un nuevo mundo donde poder decir nuestro apellido

Sea motivo de orgullo y no de vergüenza.



Por eso aprendiendo este nuevo idioma

Queremos liberar nuestros sueños multilinguales hoy,

Para así crear un nuevo mundo mañana.



Un nuevo mundo donde ya no soñaremos nunca más,

Donde podremos hablar nuestros dos idiomas libremente

Del miedo hacer llamado inmigrante

Donde un sueño deja de ser un sueño

Para convertirse en una meta.

Captive Liberty

A new life, a new language, a new culture,

But with the same hope as always, to triumph.



Everyone here calls me immigrant, immigrant!

The poor people who discriminate!

They do not know who is an immigrant.



Immigrant, the sister word to injustice,

Cousin to discrimination, and mother of liberty.



Immigrant, traveler of God with a universal passport.



Silence is an immigrant,

And everyone in the world can listen,

Thanks to the one who cannot hear.



Air is an immigrant,

And the human is this country

That needs the air to live!

I cover my ears to listen,

And like the silence, it shouts at me,

And tells me what is silent.



Immigrant, living in the colony of Illusion,

Between Dream Street and Hope Avenue.



Immigrant, a person whose own hands

Could construct a castle, but not have one.

Immigrant, a person who must cross cities to get to work,

The cities of Poverty, Suffering, Fear, Racism, and Humiliation,

Just to get to work,

The grand work, a business called Slavery.



Immigrant, obligated to give the good life

And then say good-bye to the liberty of expression,

Rights and happiness.



And who is not an immigrant in this life?

Those of us who came to this country who are poor;

They call us immigrants.

Those of us who came with money;

They welcome us.


I don’t know who you are,

Nor do I know what you want;

I only know that I am not an immigrant,

That I have a first name and last name,

Maybe I don’t know exactly where I am,

But I do know why.



Perhaps I do not know the answer,

Or the solution,

But the one thing I do know

Is that with God, the only passport I need,

Is my heart.



The more I continue living here,

Learning a new language, a new culture,

To me there is no paper that separates who I am.



Even though I live captive in this land of liberty,

I continue to fight to learn this new language

Because in this way my silence listens

There is no dream that you can obtain

Until you liberate yourself and convert that dream into reality.



The immigrants no longer dream silence.

We want to have the opportunity to convert our silent dreams into reality.

We want a new world where we are able to say our own last name

And feel proud and not ashamed.



That is why I am learning this new language

We want to liberate our multilingual dreams today,

Because in this way, we will create a new world tomorrow.



A new world where we do not need to dream any more,

Where we can speak our own languages openly

Where there is no fear that is called immigrant

Where the dream stops to be a dream

And is converted into a goal.

Review: Hungry Woman in Paris is Code

Josefina López. NY: Grand Central Publishing, 2009.
ISBN: 9780446699419


Michael Sedano


From its opening paragraphs, Hungry Woman in Paris reads with the same hyperbolic first person breathlessness of a Young Adult chiclit novel. But mothers, don't let your girls read Canela's story until they're engaged--at least--if not married. And if that adventurous daughter of yours reads Hungry Woman in Paris despite your censorship, then tells you she wants to go to Paris on vacation, alone, tell her you know about the swinger sex club scene, so don't get any cochina ideas about doing a ménage a quatre right there on the dance floor. Wouldn't she prefer a nice trip to Disneylandia, instead?

Your teenage boys will keep the novel under the mattress, and share the "best parts" with all their friends.

All of which means Josefina López achieves her purposes to, in turn, amuse, shock, tempt, and taunt sundry readers lacking the good sense to recognize Hungry Woman in Paris as a deliberately outrageous pastiche of the chiclit genre, with a generous helping of Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. Hemingway? Canela is the movable feast, which is part of the joke, and López' affront to prudes everywhere.

The novel is an almost complete success. I say "almost" because López' first person voice leads me to wonder if there's more than a soupçon of autobiography in this ribald tale of a failed journalist on the lam from a prima's tragic suicide and the bizarre velorio, a failed engagement, an irate mother, and her own depression. Naturally, she enrolls in cooking school.

This is not your mother's Como Agua Para Chocolate, despite the recipes and cookery. Canela stumbles her way through class, affronting classmates, seducing chefs and translators, earning a few measly Euros posing nude or helping Japanese tourists buy Louis Vuitton merchandise, and, with her typically impulsive thoughtlessness, help a Turkish woman escape her husband's vengeance. Más, she then inserts herself into the notorious riots of Arab youth contra French racism, and plays cougar to a Arabic rapper from the projects. Then...other stuff happens. This is the kind of novel that readers are advised to just sit back and let unfold.

Hungry Woman in Paris boldly takes Chicana literature into places where, like a literary Star Trek, no woman has gone before. Not that there aren't a few perplexities.

Canela comes out of Boyle Heights, a semi-successful writer but a failure to meet her Mexican-American family's standards to be a good Mexican daughter. Conflicting cultural norms play havoc with Canela's and her family's expectations. Canela's spent a lifetime fleeing them with no particular direction, and this has been further complicated by US immigration strictures. France, Canela discovers, is a lot like the US, except in many ways, worse, for immigrants.

That's right, "Mexican-American," a curious choice, given Canela's upbringing among the Mexicanas and Chicanas of Boyle Heights, her allusions to protests she's been involved in, and her kick-ass attitude to rules and external controls. Canela is conscious of the distinction, electing the binational term because "Chicana" would be too difficult to explain, with her limited French. But that's the public Canela. Yet, even the private Canela prefers the hyphenated identity term, but chafes under the oxymoron.

"No, I'm North American...Mexican-American," she tells a cabbie. "I clarified for him in Spanish. I wanted to tell him I was a Chicana, but then I would have to give him a cultural and historical lesson". The incident with the cab driver offers one of the novel's more insightful moments. Canela taunts the nationalistic driver that he can call himself Spanish if he likes, but his children, and for sure his grandchildren, will call themselves French. "It won't be up to you to determine their identity, it's up to them."

Given the extremes López takes her character, her editorial conventionality comes as a disappointment. She translates all Spanish language phrases into English, if not as an apposition in a follow-up periphrasis. The only saving grace of this irritating editorial strategy is the absence of italics. "'Hmmm,' her mother says, 'donde el va, yo ya vine.' Where he is going I've already been was my mother's way of saying she had already planned for betrayal."

When all is said and done, Canela and López want to make this one point clear: men everywhere are shits, most of them. A woman has a right to live her life in whatever fashion meets her needs, wants, desires, curiosities. Keep tasting life's treats and eventually, like the runaway Turkish bride, or Canela herself, a woman will find the man who deserves her. Or is that vice versa? Could a chiclit novel have a different ending? Probably not. López' Epilogue wraps the novel into a tidy package:

"Frenchwomen don't get fat and Japanese women don't grow old or get fat...but Latina women do. We get fat and we wrinkle, but our wrinkles come from laughing and crying. We know how to feel and eat; we know how to love and to come; we know how to live ourselves to death." In the end, readers will fulfill López' wish. It was delicious. And yes, "hungry" means horny.

Hit List Hits East Harlem

Sergio Troncoso writes about the reading experience at his blog, "Chico Lingo..."

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009
East Harlem Cafe and Hit List Reading
Last Thursday I read at a place I am still entranced by, the East Harlem Café owned by Michelle Cruz, at 104th and Lexington in El Barrio. Two other authors from Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, read with me, Carlos Hernandez and Richie Narvaez. A few hours before, Richie and I appeared on the Victor Cruz Show, a radio talkfest from Brooklyn. Man, did I have a good time. This is the thing about getting out there, reading and talking to people about your work. You meet new people who wow you, you get to discover what they have created, and you feel lucky. Let me count the ways.


Pancho Rodriguez and Tennessee Williams A Love Story Almost Lost to Time


Gregg Barrios sends the following news about his upcoming release. Felicidades, Gregg.

Just a heads up on the June 1st release of the trade edition of Rancho Pancho. It is the first play to be published in The Hansen Drama Series. It has a forward by David Kaplan, curator, Provincetown Tennessee Wiliams Theatre Festival. Blurbs from playwrights Nancy Cassaro (Tony n' Tina's Wedding ) and Luis Valdez (Zoot Suit ) as well as a gaggle of newspaper and magazine critics from the cities where the play has been performed.

The schedule of my first signing tour forthcoming with dates. Cities and bookstores lined up include:

Now Voyager Bookstore, Provincetown, Ma
The Drama Book Shop, New York City, NY
Borders - Garden District, New Orleans, LA

Hope my publisher can add your city or town to the tour. Meanwhile, there will be a special event in San Antonio to launch the book in June.

Be well,

Gregg

PS While the book purchase price is less expensive at B&N.com, you have to pay sales tax and shipping. At Amazon, it is at list price and you don't pay tax or shipping. But I hope you support your local independent bookstore and purchase your copy there.

http://www.amazon.com/Rancho-Pancho-Gregg-Barrios/dp/1601823312/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242611061&sr=8-3



"Rancho Pancho is a delightfully decadent love story. Through Barrios' beautiful work, we are given a bird's-eye view into the brilliant, prolific
and complex life of our greatest American playwright Tennessee Williams." – Nancy Cassaro, actress and playwright, Tony n' Tina's Wedding.

"A wonderful piece of theater... a delicious slice of history." – Luis Valdez, playwright, Zoot Suit.

Will the swallow come back to Barbara Renaud González?

Rigoberto Gonzáles sends word that his El Paso Times Review of GOLONDRINA, WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? is posted now at http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_12386618

Sounds like a good read. Per Rigoberto's review, "The narrator's name is Lucero, and like the star in her name, she proceeds to guide the reader through a border-crossing odyssey as sad and familiar as a corrido, as hopeful as the song referenced in the title, though the golondrina in question, that determined swallow, is none other than her own mother, Amada."

National Latino Writers Conference This Week in Alburquerque

This week, I'll be posting photos and updates from the conference that starts Wednesday at New Mexico's beautiful National Hispanic Cultural Center. I'll be there to conduct the workshop "Oracy: Presenting Your Work Effectively." Look for a link to my video illustrations and notes in a future La Bloga Tuesday.

That's the penultimate Tuesday of the fifth month of the year. A Tuesday like any other Tuesday, except you are here. Thank you for visiting La Bloga.

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Ate,

mvs