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The 9th annual National Latino Writers Conference takes place May 19 – 21 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The conference is uniquely devoted to writing by and for Latinos and is a magnet for Latino writers whose work has often been neglected by major publishing houses. Nationally prominent authors, editors and agents will come together to present workshops, panels and participate in one-on-one consultations with participants. Children’s book author Monica Brown will teach two workshops on Writing for Children and Francisco Alarcón will be teaching El Poder de la Poesía: Poetry for Two Languages. While all workshops and panels are closed to the public, the May 19th poetry reading by Alurista in the Bank of America Theatre will be open and free to the public.

For more information and to register click here.

This week, La Bloga is happy to share late-breaking news and views from the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Alburquerque NM, site of the NLWC. Click link above for datos.

Margaret Y. Luévano

Forty thousand square feet of vibrant images gazed down upon us. We, artists of words, gathered in the torreon to witness the fresco coming into creation, eight years in the making. We craned our necks upwards to witness the story documented before us -- Arabs, Jews, missionaries, slaves, Spaniards, virgins, indigenous mothers. They looked at us, their descendants, looking at them. Overwhelmed by the beauty, with the magnitude of the work, all we could do was stare.

On the eve of the Latino Writers Conference in Albuquerque we had come together from all over the county, writers in search of community. We were there to learn and share, gain strength to move forward in our writing lives. In this world so attached to labels that divide, the fresco reminded us that we are all a mixture of history, that we are the sum of our past moving forward to create the future.

The next morning Rigoberto Gonzazles echoed this sentiment in his keynote address to open the conference. First we must pay tribute to those who have paved the way, but we must move forward as artists in a time of crisis. We must challenge ourselves to take on the mantle given to us by our antepasados and be agents of change; we must act as role models for the upcoming generations and help develop in them the tools to shape the future; and we must not be afraid to step out of our creative worlds to become literary critics, for it is through literary criticism that we grow as a community in dialogue.

Afterwards, we disperse to our workshops -- memoir, travel writing, news writing, poetry, young adult writing, playwriting, short fiction, comedy, and mystery. For the next two and half days it is our mission to pay homage to our mentors, to learn from each other, and take what we learn here and transform it into wisdom that changes the world.

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.

Michael Sedano

In one of those serendipitous events that I wish on everyone, I am browsing the nonfiction new books shelves at the main branch of the Pasadena Public Library when Jorge Castañeda's name jumps out at me. Ex Mex, the spine proclaims. "Has Castañeda moved to the EUA?" I wonder. I'd read a number of useful Castañeda Op-Ed pieces in the LA Times, and know him as a Mexicano diplomat. The subtitle on the cover offers an explanation, From Migrants to Immigrants. Ah. A Mexicano perspective on U.S. immigration issues. Bién, bién, let's see what the former Mexican foreign minister contributes to our national dialog.

As I stride away toward the check-out desk, another spine catches my eye. Xican Enough. "Oddly nationalistic--in a good way--" I think, but pulling it down, I see the actual title reads Mexican Enough, My Life Between the Borderlines. The library has stuck a "NEW" label on the spine covering the "Me" in "Mexican." Which is ironic, given that Stephanie Elizondo Griest's early pages confess to her abandonment of her Mexicritude in high school, until she learns she'll qualify for college scholarships and numerouse ethnic-centered bennies by admitting her mother's heritage.

As one might expect, although the two titles weigh about one pound, Castañeda's is the heavier work. On the other hand, Griest's travelogue is more fun. The foreign minister builds upon statistical and scholarly reports while Griest builds upon her first-hand experience gleaned from a year in Guanajuato learning Spanish and getting in touch with her other cultura. The two make excellent companion pieces. When the Mexican's analysis begins to slow, a quick detour with the Mexican Unitedstatesian to the lucha libre gym provides a nice breather and the warm touch of human interest absent from the heavier work.

Castañeda's overview holds that U.S. politics, less than a growing Mexican economy, influenced the changes he sees in the Mexicano diaspora. Prior to Clinton's launching the TLC--NAFTA--Mexican immigration followed a circularity pattern. Agricultural workers, for example, followed the crops from Spring to Summer to Fall, and when the picking and weeding slowed, the workers would go back home for Winter. Next year, they're back, "bumerangas que la mano de diós por este mundo tiró" writes Abelardo.

Come NAFTA and the tightening of the border, circularity becomes more problematic. U.S. immigration law, historically more a breach than observance phenomenon, becomes more severe. Immigrants have a disincentive to flow in the tightening gyre of circularity--they can't come back--so large numbers settle down in the states and send for their families instead.

Griest is fascinated with emigration, too. Whole neighborhoods stand empty of men. In a domino effect, when one neighbor heads north and starts sending money back, others follow. The newer homes, the shiny pickup trucks, the stepladder kids, evince a year or two up north. Castañeda evokes a once-common view among Mexicans that only the weak and afraid left la Republica for el norte. That resentment is far from what Griest experiences.

The scholarly Castañeda starts spinning his conclusion, noting "Nothing on the immigration front ever is devoid of costs, pain, and tough decisions, and nothing ever happens quickly....Mexican migration's multicausal, multifactor origins and persistence suggest that caution and skepticism are in order. The sum of elements that have driven migration for more than a century cannot be boiled down to one single, economic consideration."

Tourist Griest experiences a different reality, at the grass roots, free from footnotes and bibliography. In a visit to an elementary school, the teacher quizzes the kids. Hands shoot up when she asks who wants to be a doctor? ¡Me! ¡me! A teacher? ¡Me! ¡me! Who wants to be this, that. ¡Me! ¡me! "'So none of you want to go to El Norte?' 'I DO, I DO!' they scream....But if you go to El Norte, you won't be a doctor or a teacher...You won't be anything. You'll just be a mojado. Too late: they are brimming with plans. One kid says he wants to go to Los Estados Unidos to buy a truck so he can drive it home and be a chauffeur. Another wants to go so he can build Mamá a house because Papá never will. Alma looks at me and shrugs. My stomach shrivels."

Castañeda deserves the last word. "Unauthorized worker." OK, two words. Some gente, Castañeda names these "American" and "conservative," like to call immigrants "illegal alien" to emphasize the law issue. Mexicans, Castañeda avers (and Chicanas Chicanos, he could have added), use "undocumented worker" to highlight the immigrants' limbo of being neither legal nor illegal. A term used by U.S. liberals and Mexican realists, he claims, "seeks to incorporate both the fact there is an issue of legality, but not only of legality." Given the ambiguity of migrant status against history's ever-shifting enforcement or not, the term--it'll never catch on--is "unauthorized worker."

A final confluence and coincidence. Like so many Mexicans, Castañeda gives up on the continent-not-a-country debate and refers to Unitedstatesians as "Americans." That is probably a global malapropism people like me will one day come to tolerate. The usage has pretty well permeated my consciousness, I noticed Sunday, when I looked at my program for the L.A. Philharmonic's Disney Hall concert. A British composer-conductor named Thomas Adès was performing his millenium piece, "America: A Prophecy." Melodies from Charles Ives, maybe Gershwin, or something spiritually jazzy, I was thinking. Nope. It's the Maya. The prophecy of the beginning of European migration to America--the original Unauthorized Residents, if you will. A most interesting piece. As the program notes declare, One of the ironies of the piece is that there is no real Maya music to be quoted – not only because the Spanish did everything they could to obliterate everything Mayan but because there was no musical notation before they came. Words, though, did survive, passed down and copied through the centuries, and these, from the books of the chilam balam (jaguar seers), provide Adès with the text for his mezzo-soprano’s prophecy-lament.

I recommend finding Adès' piece and giving it a spin. Ditto these two interestingly contrapuntal works on Mexico and Mexicans in America. All of it.

News from the National Hispanic Cultural Center

Spring lies ready to pounce upon us sooner than we might expect. And Springtime--May, in fact--brings the National Latino Writers Conference. This intensive workshop event brings writers and writing teachers from across the nation together for half a week to explore literary skill, hear the views of accomplished writers, and share in the camaraderie of our literary culture.

Applications to attend the Conference are now open. Send an inquiry to the Director, Carlos Vásquez, or visit the Center's website for details.

Among the highlights of the National Latino Writers Conference is the presentation of El Premio Aztlán Literary Award. Here's the preliminary news release. Presses and individuals may nominate candidates for consideration.


Premio Aztlán Literary Award

The Premio Aztlán Literary Award is a national literary award, established to encourage and reward emerging Chicana and Chicano authors. Renowned author, Rudolfo Anaya and his wife, Patricia, founded Premio Aztlán in 1993. This year’s award and lecture will be given at the National Latino Writers Conference, May 21-23, 09.

Guidelines:
• Literary prize is for a work of fiction (novels and collections of short stories) published within the calendar year.
• Authors must have published not more than two books.
• Entries must be the work of living authors.
• Edited works, self-published books or manuscripts in process are not accepted.
• No poetry, children or young adult literature will be considered.
• Recipient must be present to receive the award and is expected to give a lecture.
• Deadline for submission is January 30, 2009.

Past prize recipients include:
Veronica Gonzalez
Reyna Grande
Gene Guerín
Mary Helen Lagasse
Sergio Troncoso
Ronald Ruíz
Wendell Mayo
Norma Cantú
Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Photo courtesy NHCC: Los Anaya celebrate Reyna Grande's Premio Aztlán.


That's the penultimate Tuesday of the year's penultimate month. Can you believe how tempus fugit? Thanksgiving just around the corner. Helpful Indians. Starving Pilgrims (the original illegals). Turkey. Stuffiing. Desserts, just or just dessert.

La Bloga welcomes your comments or observations on today's column, or any column. Click the Comments Counter below to share your views. If you have a new topic to develop, a book or cultural event to review, an extended response to something you've read here at La Bloga, be our guest. La Bloga welcomes guest columnists. To learn about your invitation, click here.

Hasta next week. Les wachamos.

mvs

The Dewey Donation System 2008 Book Drive is happening now through March 12. This year, they've turned the force of their philanthropy on schoolkids in Jamaica and at-risk children in L.A. County.

Donate now! How, you say? Check out the How to Donate page to see the wishlists from the two institutes. (And seriously, folks, check out those detailed wishlists from the Children's Institute in LA. They've got some damn fine early-childhood advocates putting those together.)

What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!

Popular Children's Author Named Reading Ambassador

Jon Scieszka was named the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. ("Young People" again. I need my bobby sox and my McCarthyism now.) This is an effort by the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Association to bring attention to children's literature and the state of literacy these days. (These kids with their iPods and their Harry Potter and their PSPs. In my day, we stared at the wall and we liked it. *thumps cane*)

I'm not sure Scieszka needed a formal title, since he's basically been evangelizing for literacy for years with his website Guys Read and the crazyfun anthology of the same name that he edited. However, monster kudos to Scieszka, the LoC, and the CBA for calling attention to the issue, and I hope this program continues.

Thanks to Susan of Wizard's Wireless for passing it on via the Kidlitosphere Yahoogroup.

January is BAFAB month! What is BAFAB? Well might you ask.

Buy a Friend a Book is a website that urges people to buy other people books, four weeks out of the year. This is a celebration I can get behind.

Since it's Cybils time here in Casa de Bibliovore, why don't you take a look at the Cybils nominees and select one of those to send to a friend?

Actually, it's less now, since nominations close on the 21st. Gak!

Hie thee to the Cybils website and nominate some good stuff, or make sure your favorite book is nominated. Remember, you only get one nomination per category, so use it well, grasshopper. But tell all your friends.

Hey, folks, warm up your winter with the Blog Blast Tour. Authors visit blogs, and interviewing happens. Check out the entire line-up here.

Myself, I'm definitely planning on catching Perry Moore at the Ya Ya Yas, Laura Amy Schlitz at Fuse #8, Connie Willis at Finding Wonderland . . . oh, heck, I may as well just go to 'em all.

Hey folks, don't forget about the Robert's Snow for Cancer's Cure auction. That's still on, and so is the tangential project, Blogging for a Cure. Check out this post from A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy for a list of this week's blogger/illustrator interviews.

Don't miss your chance to own some amazing art and support a great cause, all in one.

Okay folks, here's another Teen Read Week meme. I can't claim credit for this one, though. I found it at E. Lockhart's blog, and she found it through MemeGirls.

1. How old were you when you got your first library card?
I think I must have been about ten. At any rate, after the age of ten is when I remember losing my library card. And again. And again. Aaaaaaaaaand again. The family joke is that I paid for my hometown's new library with the lost-card and overdue fees.

2. What's the first book you can remember reading from a library?
That is lost in the mists of time. Knowing my mother (a teacher who fed us all the books we would consume), something really good for kids. Possibly Seussian in nature.

3. Did you ever participate in a summer reading program or other kids' event at a library growing up?
Oh, heck, yes. I was that annoying one who finished first every year.

4. Do you remember when card catalogues weren't computerized?
I do, actually, although I don't remember using them much. It was a Big Hairy Deal when they did get computerized, so much so that my entire class was marched about a half-mile down the road to visit the library and learn how our lives would be changed by computer catalogs. At which point we whined about how far we were gonna have to walk back.

5. When was the last time you went to the library?
Since I'm a children's librarian . . . today.

6. How many books do you usually check out of the library at one time?
I allow myself two per workday, or my library-book-shelf would collapse from the weight. It's groaning now.

7. Name one great author you've discovered at your library.
Just one? Puh. Ooookay. Although this will sound like sucking up . . . E. Lockhart.

8. What was the librarian at your elementary school like?
I had three elementary schools because of moves. The first was unmemorable. Possibly she did not exist. The second was a strange one . . . while she was cool enough to lead me to Nancy Drew in second grade, she made me read them in order. ??? The third was made of awesome. Hi, Mrs. Robb from Bird School in Plymouth, Michigan! You are AWESOME!

9. How many times a year do you go to the library?
I'm guesstimating 250. See answer to #5.

10. If you could change on thing about your library, what would it be and why?
It needs to be bigger. Way bigger. And have all the books I want to read in it. As long as we're dreaming.

Don't forget about the Robert's Snow auctions and 7-Imp's accompanying brainchild, Blogging for a Cure.

The Robert's Snow auctions were created to raise money and awareness for Ewing's sarcoma, the cancer that recently took the life of Robert Mercer, husband of author Grace Lin. Children's book illustrators are painting wooden snowflakes and auctioning them off to some lucky bidder.

But wait! It gets better! During the auctions, the artists will visit various blogs and talk about their art, Robert's Snow, and their books. Today's guests:
Randy Cecil at ChatRabbit
Michelle Chang at The Longstockings
Kevin Hawkes at Cynthia Lord's Journal
Barbara Lehman at The Excelsior File
Grace Lin at In the Pages

Check out the sidebar over at In the Pages for a comprehensive list.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for the reminder.

Some days are so good you wish you could bottle them. Today’s been one of those days. I started with a buzz when I read my weekly Pass It On newsletter. First, there were two little articles in there that I'd written. Of course I knew these would be there, but it’s still nice to see stuff you’ve contributed appearing in your favourite newsletter. Then, in the reviews section was a glowing