HOUSTON, TX—Generations of Hispanic children in US schools had to do without books reflecting their culture and heritage. In 2021, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 311 of the 3,183 children’s books published were written by Latinos (9.8%); only 234 were about Latinos (7.35%). To fill that gap, Arte Público Press is accepting children’s book manuscripts to be considered for two awards: the Salinas de Alba Award for Latino Children’s Literature and The Reyes-Olivas Award for Best First Book of Latino Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Both seek to stimulate the work begun by Arte Público Press and its imprint, Piñata Books, which is dedicated to the publication of children’s and young adult literature that authentically and realistically portrays themes, characters and customs unique to US Hispanic culture. In addition to the publication of the book and royalties from sales, the winning authors will receive a $5,000 prize. …
2023 USLDH-Mellon Grants-in-Aid
The US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) Grants-in-Aid program, funded by the Mellon Foundation, is designed to provide a stipend of up to $7,500 to scholars for research and development of digital scholarship in the form of a digital publication and/or a digital project. Congratulations to the 2023 Grants-in-Aid Recipients: Gabriela Barrios (University of California, Los Angeles), Sonia Del Hierro (Rice University) and Sophia Martinez-Abbud (Rice University), Señora Power: A Chicana Mapping Project Maribel Bello (University of Houston), The Cristino Garza Peña Papers: From U.S. Expulsion to Leadership in Rural Mexico Maya Chinchilla, MFA (Independent Scholar), Precursors of leadership to the Central American Solidarity Movement in the United States Marisa Hicks-Alcaraz, PhD (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Reclaiming Film Histories of the U.S. Civil Rights Era: The Latina Film Recovery Project Mary Okin, PhD (Independent Scholar) with Olivia Bowman, BA, March With Us! Lessons in Activism from San José State Paloma Vargas …
James L. Novarro Digital Collection
The University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) announces the release of the James L. Novarro digital collection. This digital collection includes a sampling of archival photographs, flyers, posters and news clippings from the James L. Novarro Collection. Reverend Novarro, a pastor of Houston’s Kashmere Baptist Temple and state chaplain of the Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organizations (PASO), was a civil rights activist, League of the United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) member, editor of the Spanish-language newspaper El Sol, and host of the first Spanish-language and longest-running radio program, La hora bautista. This project seeks to make Novarro’s contributions to the Houston and Latino communities visible to a larger audience. This collection is a useful teaching and research tool for educators, students, researchers and community members interested in Houston history, civil rights activism, religious studies and Latino studies. UH undergraduate student Alejandro Aguilar had the opportunity to work …
El junte: Puerto Rican Poetry event
The US Latino Digital Humanities Center is pleased to invite you to El junte: Puerto Rican Poetry. This event will feature readings by poets and writers from the Puerto Rican Literature Project/El Proyecto de literatura puertorriqueña (PLPR). “El junte” is a play on the term “La Junta de Control Fiscal,” that criticizes the legislative body that revises and approves the Puerto Rican government’s budget and obligations, created by PROMESA, a federal law. PLPR is a Mellon-funded digital archive that documents the material existence and experiences of Puerto Rican poets in the archipelago and US diaspora from the time of the historically important Jones-Shafroth Act (1917), which gave Puerto Ricans in the archipelago US citizenship, to the twenty-first century. Date: Monday, February 6, 2023 Time: 3:00pm – 5:00pm Location: Digital Research Commons, MD Anderson Library, University of Houston The Digital Research Commons (DRC) is inside MD Anderson Library in Suite …
Explore Afro-latino literature
Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican-American (2022) By Jasminne Mendez ISBN 978-1-55885-944-9 Trade paperback, $14.95 In this memoir for teens about growing up Afro Latina in the Deep South, Jasminne writes about feeling torn between her Dominican, Spanish-speaking culture at home and the American, English-speaking one around her. She desperately wanted to fit in, to be seen as American, and she realized early on that language mattered. Josefina’s Habichuelas / Las habichuelas de Josefina (2021) By Jasminne Mendez ISBN 978-1-55885-923-4 Trade paperback, $18.95 This heart-warming, bilingual picture book for children shares a universal story all kids can relate to—learning about one’s culture through food, music and family stories—while focusing on a cultural tradition specific to the Dominican Republic. When Julia Danced Bomba / Cuando Julia bailaba bomba (2019) By Raquel Ortiz with illustrations by Flor de Vita ISBN 978-1-55885-886-2 Hardcover, $18.95 Introducing children—and adults!—to the Afro-Latino tradition of bomba music and …
Call for 2023 USLDH-Mellon Grants-in-Aid Projects
The University of Houston US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) program is a digital scholarship/research undertaking to provide training and research on US Latino recovered materials. Proposals must draw from recovered primary and derivative sources produced by Latinas/os in what is now the United States, dating from the Colonial Period to 1980 (such as Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage collections, other repositories and/or the community). The Grants-in-Aid program is designed to provide a stipend to scholars for research and development of digital scholarship in the form of a digital publication and/or a digital project. The grant covers any expense connected with research that will advance a project to the next stage or to a successful conclusion. Scholars will have the opportunity to publish their digital scholarship on Arte Público Press’ APPDigital publication platform. See sample digital scholarship/research on the following sites: Reanimate, CUNY, University of Washington and Temple University Press. …
Holiday Closure
Arte Público Press and the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project will be closed Monday, December 26, 2022, through Friday, December 30, 2022. We will re-open and resume normal operations on Monday, January 2, 2023. Please continue to send book orders by email (bkorders@uh.edu). Orders will be processed in the order received. Happy holidays!
2022-23 Graduate Research Fellows
University of Houston Graduate Research Fellows at Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) work closely with archival texts, such as periodicals, manuscripts, photographs, albums, correspondence, books, ephemera and other documents. In doing so, they gain valuable experience with archival collections and asset management. The US Latino Digital Humanities Program (USLDH) at Recovery provides training in digital tools and students contribute to digital humanities data and projects. They have the opportunity to learn the following skills: Scanning of archival items Microfilm scanning Handling and preserving archival texts Inventory of primary documents Organizing collections Creating finding aids Curating exhibits Database research Primary document research Asset management Data management (with spreadsheets) Metadata creation Metadata translation Familiarity with Library of Congress Subject Headings E-book editing and translation (APP Digital) Digital archives (Omeka) Digital tools (mapping, timelines, digital collections, OpenRefine) Archival theory Digital humanities theory Academic conference presentations Academic conference posters Planning an academic …
Love in the Time of Covid: New Award Honors Picture Book about Family, Technology and the Pandemic
HOUSTON, TX—A bilingual picture book that explores intergenerational family relationships, technology and Covid, Abuela y covid / Grandma and Covid by Airy Sindik (ISBN 978-1-55885-955-5, hardcover, $18.95), is the winner of the inaugural REYES-OLIVAS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST BOOK OF LATINO CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE. The award was presented to Sindik at Arte Público Press’ 40th anniversary celebration on Thursday, September 15, 2022. THE REYES-OLIVAS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST BOOK OF LATINO CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE seeks to stimulate the work begun by Arte Público Press and its imprint, Piñata Books, which is dedicated to the publication of children’s and young adult literature that realistically portrays themes, characters and customs unique to US Hispanic culture. In addition to the publication of the book and royalties from sales, Sindik received a $5,000 prize. Funding for the award was provided by long-time Arte Público Press supporters and University of Houston …
Award Recognizes Book About Perseverance and Family Heritage
HOUSTON, TX— Jasminne Mendez’s new picture book, Josefina’s Habichuelas / Las habichuelas de Josefina (ISBN 978-1-55885-923-4, hardcover, $18.95), has been awarded the Writers’ League of Texas 2022 Discovery Prize. Established in 1991, the Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards recognize the year’s outstanding books published by Texas authors. The Discovery Prize honors books with fresh perspectives and outstanding narratives to bring recognition to new voices. Young Josefina loves sweets and eats plenty of cookies, cupcakes and candy, until one day her mother suggests they refrain from eating sugar for 40 days and 40 nights in preparation for Easter Sunday. In exchange, her mom promises to teach her how to make habichuelas con dulce, or sweet cream beans, her family’s traditional dessert. Josefina reluctantly agrees, and struggles to keep her promise while her friends continue to eat their favorite sweets at school. When she and her mom, tías and abuela finally …
