We’re celebrating Women’s History Month by highlighting these books about inspirational Latina women throughout history! There’s poetry, academic and general interest texts. Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry Diagnosed with scleroderma at 22 and lupus just six years later, Jasminne Méndez’ life becomes a roller coaster of doctor visits, medical tests and procedures. Staring at EKG results that look like hieroglyphics, she realizes that she doesn’t want to understand them: “The language of a life lived with chronic illness is not something I want to adapt to. I cannot let this hostile vocabulary hijack my story.” In this stirring collection of personal essays and poetry, Méndez shares her story, writing about encounters with the medical establishment, experiences as an Afro Latina and longing for the life she expected but that eludes her. Seasons of Rebels and Roses Ranging from Puerto Rico to Cuba and the United States, Virginia Sánchez-Korrol’s engaging novel …
Author on the Airwaves: Carolyn Dee Flores
Arte Público Press Author Carolyn Dee Flores featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Flores 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: A graduate of Trinity University, CAROLYN DEE FLORES is the illustrator of The Amazing Watercolor Fish / El asombroso pez acuarela (Piñata Books, 2018); A Surprise for Teresita / Una sorpresa para Teresita (Piñata Books, 2016); Dale, dale, dale: Una fiesta de números / Hit It, Hit It, Hit It: A Fiesta of Numbers (Piñata Books, 2014), which was named to the 2015-2016 Tejas Star Reading List; Canta, Rana, canta / Sing, Froggie, Sing (Piñata Books, 2013), which was named to the 2014-2015 Tejas …
It’s No Secret That We’ve Got a Winner!
Author’s debut for teens wins Texas award HOUSTON, TX February, 2019—Alex Temblador’s intriguing novel for teens, Secrets of the Casa Rosada, has won the 2019 Tejas Foco Young Adult Fiction Award given by the National Association for Chicana/o Studies. The Tejas Foco Young Adult Fiction Award recognizes outstanding work that best represents a significant topic related to Mexican American experience in Texas. The prize is given by the Texas chapter of the National Association for Chicana/o Studies (NACCS), an organization that serves academic programs, departments and research centers focusing on issues pertinent to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os and Latina/os. Formed in 1972 during the height of the Chicana/o movement, NACCS called for the development of a space where Chicana/o students could develop their talents in higher education. Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018, Secrets is an engaging novel for young adults that follows a family of women and the …
First-Time Novelist Starts 2019 with a BANG!
HOUSTON, TX February 2019—Daniel Peña’s debut novel, Bang, was awarded the 2019 Tejas Foco Fiction Award and was named a finalist for In the Margins’ 2019 Advocacy/Social Justice Award. The Tejas Foco Fiction Award recognizes outstanding work that best represents a significant topic related to the Mexican-American experience in Texas. The prize is given by the Texas chapter of the National Association for Chicana/o Studies (NACCS), an organization that serves academic programs, departments and research centers focusing on issues pertinent to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os and Latina/os. In the Margins (ITM) is a committee under the umbrella of Library Services for Youth in Custody, an organization serving the needs of and advocating for those who provide library services for youth in custody which includes local and federal facilities, ICE detention centers and mental health or rehab centers. The ITM committee seeks to highlight the best fiction and non-fiction titles of high-interest …
Arte Público Press Receives Prestigious National Literary Award
Houston, TX January 2019— The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has announced that Arte Público Press, the nation’s largest publisher of U.S.-based Hispanic authors, has received the prestigious Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. Named after the first president of the NBCC, the award is given annually to a person or institution with an extensive history of significant contributions to book culture. “The award comes as a total surprise because it typically goes to authors,” said Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, founder and director of Arte Público Press. “This recognition will help us amplify voices in Latino literature throughout the United States.” The National Book Critics Circle Awards, considered among the most respected literary awards in America, are bestowed by a jury of working critics and book-review editors. Past recipients include Margaret Atwood and Pulitzer Prize-winner Toni Morrison. “The University of Houston has given Arte Público Press an intellectual space in which to …
Author on the Airwaves: Alex Temblador
Arte Público Press Author Alex Temblador featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Temblador 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: ALEX TEMBLADOR, a freelance travel writer, is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Monroe and received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. Born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas, she lives and works in Dallas. Secrets of the Casa Rosada is her debut novel. About her new book, Secrets of the Casa Rosada Sixteen-year-old Martha and her mother move constantly, never staying anywhere for long. So she knows better than to ask if they’ve been evicted again when her mom …
Author on the Airwaves: Xavier Garza
Arte Público Press Author Xavier Garza featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Garza 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: XAVIER GARZA is the author of numerous books for kids, including Zulema and the Witch Owl / Zulema y la Bruja Lechuza (Piñata Books, 2009), Juan and the Chupacabras / Juan y el Chupacabras (Piñata Books, 2006) and Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask (Cinco Puntos Press, 2005). He lives with his family in San Antonio, Texas. About his new book for children, Just One Itsy Bitsy Little Bite / Sólo una mordidita chiquitita “I love pan de muerto,” Joaquín says as he and his mother …
Festive Children’s Books Ignite the Holiday Spirit!
Are you looking for holiday gifts that are both educational and fun? Look no more! Below, we’ve assembled a brief collection of holiday-themed stories that will teach the little ones in your life about Christmas and El Día de los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day. These books are filled with vibrant illustrations that will engage children, while leading them to ask more questions. The Case of the Three Kings: The Flaca Files / El caso de los Reyes Magos: Los expendientes de Flaca by Alidis Vicente Flaca, or Detective Flaca as she prefers to be called, is pleased with her Christmas gifts. Finally, she has the tools needed to do her job: a fingerprint-taking kit, a police-quality mini flashlight, and most exciting of all, police tape to block off crime scenes! However, she is not at all pleased with the airline tickets to Puerto Rico she and her sister La …
Author on the Airwaves: Jasminne Méndez
Arte Público Press Author Jasminne Méndez featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Méndez 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: JASMINNE MÉNDEZ is a poet, educator, performer, and award-winning author. She is a Macondo and Canto Mundo Fellow, as well as a Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) alumna. Her collection of essays and poetry, Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry, was published by Arte Público Press on April 30, 2018. Her first multi-genre memoir, Island of Dreams, was awarded Best Young Adult Latino-focused Book by the International Latino Book Awards in 2015. She received her B.A. in English Literature and her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the …
Author on the Airwaves: Kathleen Contreras
Arte Público Press Author Kathleen Contreras featured on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Contreras 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: KATHLEEN CONTRERAS is a bilingual educator and author of three other children’s books that highlight her Mexican roots: Pan Dulce (Scholastic, 1995), Braids / Trencitas (Lectorum, 2009) and Sweet Memories / Dulces recuerdos (Lectorum, 2014). She lives and works in Ventura, California. About her new book, Harvesting Friends / Cosechando amigos Young Lupe loves helping her mother with their salsa garden full of tomatoes, chile peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro. But one summer day, she sees that the biggest, juiciest tomatoes have disappeared! Who could have taken them?!? Two weeks later, she …
