Bilingual Picture Book Blasts Off! HOUSTON, TX, March 3, 2020—Former astronaut José M. Hernández’s bilingual picture book for kids, The Boy Who Touched the Stars / El niño que alcanzó las estrellas, is the winner of The Texas Institute of Letters Best Children’s Picture Book.   The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respected writers, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and MacArthur “Genius” Grants. Each year the organization awards more than $24,000 to recognize outstanding literary works in several categories including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s books and translations. Eligibility for the awards requires that entrants be born in Texas or have lived in Texas for at least two consecutive years. With vibrant illustrations by Steven James Petruccio, this heartwarming book recounts José M. …

The US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) Grants-in-Aid program, funded by The Andrew W. 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 2020-2021 Grants-in-Aid Recipients: Tessa Córdova, Ph.D., University of New Mexico, The Enriqueta Vásquez Digital History Project Ana María Díaz-Marcos, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, Hispanic Antifascism and Feminism in La Voz (New York, 1937-1939) Montse Feu, Ph.D. and Jenny Patlan, Sam Houston State University, Fighting Fascism: Workers’ Visual Print Culture in US Spanish-language Periodicals Sarah Rafael García, Founder of Barrio Writers and LibroMobile, Modesta Ávila: Obstructing Development Since 1889 (MAOD) Claire Jiménez, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, The Puerto Rican Literature Project Joshua Ortiz-Bacó, University of Texas at Austin, Unearthing Brazilian, Cuban, and Puerto Rican Abolitionism in the 19th Century US Press Cristina Ramírez, Ph.D.,  University of Arizona, Recovering …

Listen to the interview of Arte Público Press Author/translator J. Bret Maney featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Many for its website’s “Arte Público Press Authors” feature, and along with the transcript, their conversation is available to listeners on the station’s interactive site through on-demand audio streaming here. Click here to see all Arte Público authors featured on Houston Public Media. About the Author: J. BRET MANEY is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Lehman College, The City University of New York.           About the book, Manhattan Tropics / Trópico en Manhattan: “Walking underground” for the first time in his life, Juan Marcos Villalobos, a freshly arrived migrant to New York City, offers his seat to a woman standing on the subway. Though his English isn’t up to her rude reply, he quickly realizes that good manners in …

Listen to the interview of Arte Público Press Author René Colato Laínez featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Colato Laínez for its website’s “Arte Público Press Authors” feature, and along with the transcript, their conversation is available to listeners on the station’s interactive site through on-demand audio streaming here. Click here to see all Arte Público authors featured on Houston Public Media. About the Author: RENÉ COLATO LAÍNEZ is the author of numerous picture books for children, including Mamá the Alien / Mamá la extraterrestre(Lee & Low Books, 2016), From North to South / Del norte al sur (Children’s Book Press, 2013), René Has Two Last Names / René tiene dos apellidos (Arte Público Press, 2009) and I Am René, the Boy / Soy René, el niño (Arte Público Press, 2005). He is an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, California.     …

Arte Público Press Author Marty Glick featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Glick for its website’s “Arte Público Press Authors” feature, and along with the transcript, their conversation is available to listeners on the station’s interactive site through on-demand audio streaming here. Click here to see all Arte Público authors featured on Houston Public Media. About the Author:     Marty Glick is a litigator with the international firm, Arnold & Porter, and is listed in Best Lawyers in America in Intellectual Property and Patent Law. He worked in Mississippi for the Justice Department in the 1960s and for the California Rural Legal Assistance for eight years. He has been CRLA’s outside counsel for four decades. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.     About the book, The Soledad Children: The Fight to End Discriminatory IQ Tests Ten-year-old Arturo Velázquez …

Odyssey to the North  / Odisea del norte Showing the heartbreak as well as the humor of misunderstandings in a foreign culture, award-winning author Bencastro creates a sensitive and caring portrait of a Hispanic immigrant, Calixto, as he struggles to survive. “Unpretentious and reportorial, Bencastro’s tone is welcomely understated . . . and his message is all the more powerful for it.”—Publishers Weekly “A heartfelt story of political oppression and exile…credible and quite moving.”—Kirkus Reviews“     The Border Patrol Ate My Dust / La Migra me hizo las mandados “These stories reflect the true and first-hand experiences of people who risked it all to cross over to a better life…Alarcón reminds us that when our chain y breaks, we all drown.”—El Paso Times   “This wonderful first-hand description of the immigration experience is recommended for public and academic libraries and bookstores.”—Críticas (starred review)       The Adventures of Don Chipote, or, …

Post Doctoral Fellow – (STA005382) The application period is now open for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH), a division of Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage program (Recovery) at the University of Houston. The program is looking for a recent (less than 5 years) Ph.D. graduate with background expertise in US Latino Studies. The postdoctoral fellow will help re-vision new strategies for data hosted at Recovery in support of teaching, research and community engagement and help to develop initiatives that will enhance collections and scholarship in the field. USLDH will provide the selected candidate with the necessary training in digital tools, metadata and digitization standards, project and content management systems and platforms. The fellow will be expected to create and publish a significant DH project using Recovery’s archives, assist with instruction, support projects and scholars, serve as a mentor for Research Fellows, lead workshops and collaborate in …