Troncoso chosen as September 2011’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Troncoso for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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: SERGIO TRONCOSO is the author of The Nature of Truth (Northwestern University Press, 2003) and The Last Tortilla and Other Stories (University of Arizona Press, 1999), which won the Premio Aztlán and the Southwest Book Award. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and two graduate degrees, in international relations and philosophy, from Yale University. He won a Fulbright scholarship to Mexico and was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Alumni Hall of Fame. He lives and works in New York City. About his …
Author on the Airwaves: Lyn Di Iorio
Di Iorio chosen as October 2011’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Di Iorio for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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: LYN DI IORIO grew up in Puerto Rico and came to the Mainland to attend Harvard University, from which she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She received her master’s degree from Stanford University’s Creative Writing Program and her doctorate in English literature from the University of California at Berkeley. She teaches literature and creative writing at The City College of New York and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the author of scholarly books on Latino literature; …
Author on the Airwaves: Judith Ortiz Cofer
Ortiz Cofer chosen as November 2011’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Ortiz Cofer for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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: JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, a poet, novelist and essayist, is the author of numerous award-winning books, including An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio (Orchid Books 1995, Penguin, 1997), recipient of the 1995 Pura Belpré Award, ALA’s Best Books for Young Adults and The Horn Book/Fanfare Best Book of the Year List. Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (Arte Público Press 1991) received a PEN citation, the Martha Albrand Award for non-fiction, and a Pushart Prize for the …
Authors on the Airwaves: Hipólito Acosta and A. J. Irwin
Acosta and Irwin chosen as June 2016’s “Co-Authors of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Acosta and Irwin for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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 Authors: HIPÓLITO ACOSTA, the son of Mexican-American migrant workers, rose to be one of the most highly decorated officers in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. He is the author, with Lisa Pulitzer, of The Shadow Catcher: A U.S. Agent Infiltrates Mexico’s Deadly Crime Cartels (Atria Books, 2012). He lives in Houston, Texas. A.J. IRWIN’s career in law enforcement began by happenstance when he worked as an undercover cop for a small-town Georgia police department. He went on to become a federal …
Bilingual Children’s Book Wins Skipping Stones Honor!
HOUSTON, TX June 6, 2016—Acclaimed author Pat Mora is the recipient of a 2016 Skipping Stones Honor Award for her bilingual picture book, The Remembering Day / El día de los muertos. The Skipping Stones Awards encourage understanding of the world’s diverse cultures, nature and ecological richness. They promote cooperation, nonviolence, respect for differing viewpoints and close relationships in human societies. In this story about family relationships, Pat Mora creates an origin myth in which she imagines how the Mexican custom of remembering deceased loved ones—El día de los muertos or the Day of the Dead—came to be. Long, long, long ago, Bella and her grandmother Mamá Alma admired their vegetable garden. They walked around the flowers and vegetables holding hands, something they had done frequently since Bella was a baby. As her grandmother aged, Bella helped her to walk. “Every year, I need your help more and more,” said …
Author on the Airwaves: Diane Gonzales Bertrand
Bertrand chosen as May 2016’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Bertrand for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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: DIANE GONZALES BERTRAND is the author of numerous books for children. They include The Story Circle / El círculo de cuentos (Piñata Books, 2016), A Bean and Cheese Taco Birthday / Un cumpleaños con tacos de frijoles con queso (2015), and Cecilia and Miguel Are Best Friends / Cecilia y Miguel son mejores amigos (2014). A lifelong resident of San Antonio, Bertrand teaches at St. Mary’s University, where she is also Writer-in-Residence. About her latest book, The Story Circle / El círculo de cuentos Monster storms …
APP Director Nicolás Kanellos receives honor from Spain
Arte Público Press Director and University of Houston Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Studies, Nicolás Kanellos, received one of the Spanish government’s highest distinctions. With the Royal Sanction of Spain’s King Felipe VI, Kanellos received the “Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica” in a private ceremony at the Houston residence of the Consul General of Spain on Friday, May 20. “With the distinction conferred to Dr. Kanellos, Spain wishes to recognize his contribution to the knowledge and dissemination of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture in the United States,” said Consul General Enric Panés Calpe. The Order of Isabella “Cruz de Oficial” is one of the highest ranks within the Order created in 1815 by King Fernando VII in honor of Queen Isabella I of Castile. Please click here to learn more about this prestigious award.
Author on the Airwaves: Patricia Santos Marcantonio
Santos Marcantonio chosen as April 2016’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Santos Marcantonio for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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: PATRICIA SANTOS MARCANTONIO is the author of Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), a Book Sense Children’s Book favorite. She lives and works in Twin Falls, Idaho. About her first novel, Verdict in the Desert In the summer of 1959, everyone knows his place in Arizona. Michael Shaw is an alcoholic lawyer struggling with his reputation as the son of one of Mitchell County’s wealthiest, most successful attorneys. Toni Garcia, the first in her family to obtain …
Acclaimed Children’s Author Wins Award!
“The realistic style and warm colors of the illustrations bring to life the loving relationship between Bella and her grandmother. A warm family story.”—Kirkus Reviews HOUSTON, TX April 2016— Pat Mora’s bilingual picture book for children, The Remembering Day / El día de los muertos, has won the Texas Institute of Letters’ 2016 Denton Record-Chronicle Award for Best Children’s Picture Book. In this special picture book, Mora introduces children to the idea that, even though we may lose a loved one, they remain with us forever in our memories. The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to stimulate interest in Texas letters and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. Each year the organization awards more than $20,000 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 …
Author on the Airwaves: Frank de Jesús Acosta
Acosta chosen as March 2016’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Acosta for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” 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: FRANK DE JESÚS ACOSTA is principal of Acosta & Associates, a California-based consulting group that specializes in professional support services for public and private social change ventures in the areas of children, youth and family services, violence prevention, community development, and cultural fluency. He is the author of The History of Barrios Unidos (Arte Público Press, 2007). About her first novel, Latino Young Men and Boys in Search of Justice: Testimonies In “Message to My Seventeen-Year-Old Self,” Roberto Martínez, a California Correctional inmate, writes that …