HOUSTON, TX May 2017—Lydia Gil’s bilingual “flip” book for intermediate readers, Letters from Heaven / Cartas del cielo, was chosen for inclusion in the Dallas ISD’s 2016-2017 Luminarias List. A group of Dallas Independent School District librarians created the list in 2006 as a guide for selecting Hispanic books of high literary quality to meet the needs of the young Hispanic community. Both nonfiction and fiction bilingual and/or Spanish titles are considered for a recommended list geared to grades Pre-K through 3rd and for a supplemental upper elementary school list. A tender story of family and friendship, Letters from Heaven celebrates Latino traditions, especially those of the Spanish Caribbean. Celeste is heartbroken when her grandmother dies. But everything changes when a letter mysteriously comes in the mail—from Grandma!  “I know you miss me as much as I miss you. Don’t be sad. Where there is love, there is no sadness.” …

HOUSTON, TX—Arte Público Press’ long-term project to locate, preserve and disseminate the written legacy of Latinos in the United States from the Colonial Period to 1960, the RECOVERING THE US HISPANIC LITERARY HERITAGE PROJECT, recently received a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to research and locate writings and other historical documents by and about Latinos in the United States. Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, primary investigator for the grant and director of the press, will collaborate with University of Houston librarians Jacqueline Bronicki, Assessment and Statistics Coordinator, and Lisa Cruces, Hispanic Collections Archivist, to conduct and analyze a survey of small historical societies, libraries and museums in the Southwest that may hold Hispanic archival materials. This project will produce the first-ever guide to Hispanic archival collections in the Southwest, which will be made available for general reference on the Arte Público website. Following the survey, strategies will be …

Author Joe Jiménez’s gritty debut novel for young adults, BLOODLINE, has been awarded the 2017 NACCS Tejas Young Adult Fiction Book Award, for recognition as an outstanding work of Young Adult fiction that best represents a significant topic related to the Mexican-American/Chican@ experience in Texas. A haunting story that questions what it really means to be a man, the novel was named one of Kirkus Reviews‘ Best Books of 2016, was a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters’ H-E-B Award for Best Young Adult Book and was also included in NBC Latino’s Summer 2016 Reading List. BLOODLINE has been widely praised: “Jiménez explores shades of manhood and all it entails with a deft, poetic hand.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Joe Jiménez’s writing has astonished me and made me sit up and pay attention since the first time I heard him read his work out loud.  He continues to make me yearn to hear what he has …

Houston, TX—Scholars from around the world convened at the University of Houston in Houston, TX, February 9-11, 2017, to explore the history and literature of Latinos/as at the 25th Anniversary Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Conference. The XIV Recovery Conference theme, Writing/Righting History, featured scholars sharing examples of the cultural legacy they are recovering, preserving and making available in order to write/right American culture and that of the Hispanic world whose peoples immigrated to the United States over the past centuries. Sessions included “Chicana Feminism: Looking through the Archives,” “Latinos and World War II” and “Mapping Violence: Possibilities and Limits of Digital Projects for Reckoning with Histories of Anti-Mexican Violence.” In conjunction with the Recovery Conference, a special symposium on Texas Hispanic history took place on Saturday, February 11, free to the public. Conference attendees and local sponsors were treated to presentations by University of Houston-Downtown Interim President and William B. Bates …

Join 25th Anniversary Recovery Conference attendees and speakers at a special fundraising dinner to support Arte Público Press and the Recovery Project on Friday, February 10, 2017, at 6 pm at the University of Houston Hilton Hotel. University of Houston-Downtown Interim President and William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Houston Law Center, Dr. Michael A. Olivas, and actress Olivia Negrón will speak about their work. Click here to purchase your tickets using a credit card. Or print and return this form to return with your check. MICHAEL A. OLIVAS, the William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, is completing his tenure as the interim president of the University of Houston-Downtown. He is the author or co-author of fifteen books, including “Colored Men” and “Hombres Aquí”: Hernandez v. Texas and the Emergence of Mexican American Lawyering (Arte Público, 2006), No Undocumented Child …

A popular Latin American holiday, el Día de los Muertos, is on Tuesday-Wednesday, Nov. 1-2, and we’ve got the perfect way to celebrate: Pat Mora’s bilingual picture book, The Remembering Day / El día de los muertos!   With tender illustrations by Robert Casilla that depict Bella and Mamá Alma’s loving relationship, this book will encourage children to honor loved ones, whether by writing stories and poems or creating their own remembering place.   These activities will engage and inspire your kids! Invite students to share stories about their relationship with a remembered loved one. Students can also share a photo or their own drawing. Invite students to write a poem about a deceased family member or friend. Invite students to bring photos or special objects of remembered loves ones and create a classroom, library or school display. Plan a remembering day event at your school or library. You can include flowers, songs, …

Three acclaimed authors—Luis J. Rodríguez, Javier O. Huerta and Henry A. J. Ramos—spoke at the Latino Young Men and Boys in Search of Justice: A My Brother’s Keeper Forum, which took place Friday, September 30, at the University of Houston-Downtown. Participants explored the unique challenges faced by Houston’s young Latino men along with successful approaches to improving positive outcomes. The forum featured sessions for local youth and adults who work with at-risk students. The panels for young people focused on identity, others’ perceptions of them, and goal-setting. The panels for adults involved with youth looked into the effect of zero tolerance policies, restorative justice practices, and examples of culturally grounded restorative justice practices being used successfully in Houston and around the country.

HOUSTON, TX September 2, 2016—Acclaimed author and filmmaker Jesús Salvador Treviño is the recipient of a 2016 American Book Award for his book of interrelated stories, Return to Arroyo Grande.  Weaving magical realism with issues of loss, memory and identity, Jesús Salvador Treviño once again confirms his place as a powerful storyteller in Chicano—and American—literature. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. Created in 1978, the American Book Awards have recognized outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. All winners will be formally recognized in an awards ceremony on Sunday, October 30, from 2-5pm at the SF JAZZ Center (Joe Henderson Lab, 201 Franklin Street) in San Francisco, California. This event is free and open to the public. Weird things continue to happen to the characters that …