September 29 & 30, 2007 (Friday & Saturday)
George R. Brown Convention Center, Hall A-3
1001 Avenida de las Americas
Houston, TX 77010
10 am - 6 pm
Admission is FREE
(parking is not free)
***************************
Lila Downs - Divinas Concert (Sor Juana Festival 4-22-07)
(pics by Gabriel Guzman Medina)
Upcoming Events:
*******Friday's venue is cancelled for the W.A.T.2. ******
Since Friday night is cancelled for the W.A.T.2, EVERYONE is going to FEAR OF A BROWN PLANET at DiverseWorks.
The 2nd Annual Word Around Town Poetry Tour with special guest Paul Flores (Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word from Califas) will be performing! Sponsored by Nuestra Palabra and the Panhandler.
********************
Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say presents
Harvard Graduate and rising star Manuel Muñoz
Presenting his first novel THE FAITH HEALER OF OLIVE AVENUE
Wednesday June 27, 7 pm
Barnes and Noble 7626 Westheimer @ Voss
Admission is free.
Originally from California, Manuel has risen from humble beginnings to the top of the literary world. He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard then went on to study with noted author Helena Maria Viramontes at Cornell, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. He currently lives in New York where he is employed at a major publishing house.
Manuel's stories have appeared in many important journals and magazines throughout the nation and grew into his first collection ZIGZAGGER. This is his first novel. He is part of the new generation of Latino writers who represent our community at the highest levels of the academic and publishing worlds. He writers at the highest level of craft and sould to create universal and moving fiction. He is making an important impact on the national literary scene.
For more info: www.nuestrapalabra.org
713-867-8943
Brought to you by the following friends of the Latino Community: Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commision for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, KPFT 90.1 FM, Houston Community College-College Activity Board
********************
Fear of a Brown Planet
June 29 & 30, 2007, 8pm
Advance tickets are $5.00
Day of show tickets are $9.00
Nationally acclaimed spoken word performers Paul Flores (HBO Def Poetry), Marc David Pinate (1999 National Slam Poetry Champion) and Amalia Ortiz (HBO Def Poetry & 2000 San Antonio Puro Slam Champion) present their new spoken word/hip hop theater play.
FEAR OF A BROWN PLANET is the story of three Chicano archetypes – a construction worker, radical lawyer, and a Hispanic socialite – who find themselves in an internment camp with no memory of why or how they got there. A browning of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, FEAR OF A BROWN PLANET is a psycho-spiritual journey into the dark prison of the mind in a quest for meaning to our collective Brown existence.
The Chicano Messengers utilize their talents as contemporary spoken word artists and inheritors of a Chicano literary tradition started in the 1970s to represent a new voice and new generation of poet-performers whose aesthetic, language and themes reflect a complex, more urban, more Pan-Latino feel.
http://www.diverseworks.org/programs/perf_subscription.shtml
DiverseWorks, 1117 East Freeway, I-10 at North Main, Houston, TX 77002
Phone:713.223.8346
PhoneWorks: 713.335.3443
Ticket Line: 713.335.3445 (24 hours)
general email: [email protected]
http://www.meca-houston.org
ARTIST BIOS:
Paul S. Flores is a poet, performer and author of the novel Along the Border Lies (Creative Arts Books, 2001) about the Tijuana-San Diego border community where he was raised. Since 1996 he has toured nationally as a member of the San Francisco-based poetry performance troupe Los Delicados; been a featured performer at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Arts, Funk Jazz Lounge Miami, the Justice League, the National Hip Hop Festival in La Habana, Cuba and two appearances on Russell Simmon's Present: Def Poetry on HBO. He is the co-author of three plays in the genre of Hip Hop and Spoken Word Theater, including "No Man's Land" with Marc Bamuthi Joseph and "The Fruitvale Project" with Elia Arce. Paul holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He is the Program Director of Youth Speaks, a non profit literary arts center for teenagers in San Francisco responsible for creating Brave New Voices: The National Teen Poetry Slam.
Amalia Ortiz is a San Antonio based actor, director, activist and Puro Slam grand slam champion 2000, 2001, and 2002. Amalia has graced the pages of Latina Magazine for founding, co-writing, directing, and appearing in the 2 hour all female poetry/theatre piece, Women of ILL Repute: Refute!, which raised money for the Rape Crisis Center. Amalia proudly represented San Antonio at the 2000 National Poetry Slam as the first Latina to compete in the National Slam Finals which placed 2nd in the nation. She has been awarded the San Antonio Current's editor pick for "Best Local Poet" 2002 and the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Award from Sandra Cisneros. She also performed at the nation's capital and met the President and First Lady at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. Her poetry is featured on the spoken word compilation CDs PoetCD.Com Sampler Vol. I, NYC Urbana: the Very Best of 2003, and The Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word. Calaca Press will feature her on the upcoming CD RazaSpoken Here III. Amalia has appeared on three seasons of Russell Simmons Present Def Poetry on HBO and the 2003 NAACP Image Awards on FOX and currently tours with the female performance-poetry troupe Diva Diction, The Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word, and the Def Poetry College Tour.
Marc David Pinate is a poet, playwright, actor, organizer, and activist currently residing in Berkeley, California. Pinate is the co-founder and front man-poet of Grito Serpentino, a spoken word and music ensemble which has toured throughout the country. In 1999 Pinate was a member of the San Jose Slam Team that took first place at the National Slam Championships in Chicago that year and which also earned him an appearance on CBS's "60 Minutes" when the news program did a feature story on slam poetry. Pinate also founded Los Del Pueblo Actors' Lab, a grass roots NeoChican@ theater company which has mounted several plays written by Pinate including The Mex-Files, The Tale of Johnny Hispanic, Amor Rabioso, The Lunatic and The Journey of Isis. As a solo poet, he has performed in cities around the nation including Chicago, Los Angeles, Tucson, Washington D.C., New York City, Albuquerque, San Diego, and Boston. Pinate's poetry, plays and short stories have been published in The Santa Clara Review, Razateca, Comfusion, Calaca Review, Zyzzyvaand StreetLow magazine. Pinate has recorded and released two spoken word CDs: the self titled debut CD, Grito Sepentino (1999), and the recently released , Para La Gente (2001). Originally from Chandler, Arizona, he received his BA in Communications from Santa Clara University in 1994 and holds a Master of Arts degree in Theater Arts from San Jose State University. He currently teaches drama at SJSU and is the Program Manager at GalerÃŒa De La Raza in San Francisco.
http://www.suteatro.org/season/messengers.html
**********************
Nuestra Palabra Summer Writing Workshop
Contact Lupe Mendez at http://www.myspace.com/riodelobo
*************************
ASK A MEXICAN in person!
Nuestra Palabra presents Gustavo Arellano The man behind this satirical, controversial persona
Houston (January 8, 2007) Wednesday, May 16, 7 pm - 830 pm, at Barnes and Noble Book Store, 7626 Westheimer, Houston, Texas 77063, admission is free. Gustavo Arrelleno launches his new book ASK A MEXICAN. His column, of the same name, appears in over a dozen newspapers across the country, including the Houston Press. His satirical approach to controversial immigration issues inspires and enrages people on every end of the political spectrum. However, this new approach ignites fresh dialogue on topics that have been talked about and talked about and talked about to death.
You will never know where you really stand on immigration and multiculturalism until you ASK A MEXICAN.
Arellano will be taking live calls on several Houston radio shows during his visit, including the Nuestra Palabra radio show, Tuesday, May 8, 730 pm - 830 pm, on KPFT 90.1 FM. Live call-ins will be taken at 713 526 5738.
A portion of proceeds made May 16 at Barnes and Noble Voss with an NP voucher will be donated to Nuestra Palabra. Sponsored by The Houston Press, The Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and KPFT.
Visit Ask A Mexican on MySpace! www.myspace.com/ocwab
********************
National Sor Juana Festival March 22-April 29, 2007 in Houston, TX. Check out our blog or Download the Sor Juana Fest Brochure
Visit www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org or www.nuestrapalabra.org for more info.
*****************************
Hecho En Tejas
Read Houston Chronicle article .
A portion of book sales purchased with an "NP Voucher" will be donated to Nuestra Palabra. Please visithttp://sophia.hccs.edu/TitleV/flyers/np_flyer__voucher2 .pdf to print voucher. Simply present the voucher at the cash register at the time of purchase.
Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas-Mexican Literature
Editorial Reviews
Book Description:
Once an independent nation, Texas has always been proud of its unique culture. The literature of the Lone Star State has long attracted local, regional, and national audiences and critics, yet the state's Mexican American voices have yet to receive the attention they deserve.
Hecho en Tejas is a historic anthology that establishes the canon of Mexican American literature in Texas. With close to one hundred selections chosen, the book reaches back to the sixteenth-century exploration narrative of Texas's first Spanish-speaking writer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. It features prose by Américo Paredes and Jovita Gonzalez, Rolando Hinojosa and Tomás Rivera, Estela Trambley Portillo, and Sandra Cisneros. Among the poets included in the anthology are Ricardo Sánchez, Carmen Tafolla, Angela de Hoyos, and Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado. Hecho en Tejas also includes corridos from the turn of the century and verses sung by music legends such as Lydia Mendoza and Santiago Jimenez, Sr., Freddy Fender, and Selena. In addition to these established names, already known across the United States, Hecho en Tejas introduces such younger writers as Christine Granados, Erasmo Guerra, and Tonantzin Canestaro-Garcia, the famous Tejano authors of tomorrow.
In assembling this canonic reader, Dagoberto Gilb has created more than an anthology. Read cover to cover, Hecho en Tejas becomes not only a literary showcase, but also a cultural and historical narrative both for those familiar with Texas Mexicans and for outsiders. Hecho en Tejas is a mosaic portrait of the community, the land and its history, its people's sorrows and joys, anger and humor and pride, what has been assimilated and what will not be.
About the Author:
Dagoberto Gilb spent sixteen years working as a construction worker, twelve of those as a highrise carpenter with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. He is the author of The Magic of Blood (University of New Mexico Press), which won the 1994 PEN/Hemingway Award and was a PEN/Faulkner finalist, The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña, and Woodcuts of Women. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Writers' Award. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Threepenny Review, Harper's, and two of his nonfiction essays have appeared in The Best American Essays. He was born in Los Angeles, made his home for many years in El Paso, and is currently living in Austin, Texas.
******************************
Check out more info at:
firstfridaycinema
bohemeo's
****************************
Welcome to the Latino Literary Renaissance........
Founded in 1998, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say has gone from the party hall of Chapultepec Restaurant to Exhibit Hall F of the George R. Brown Convention Center. When we began, we were told that there was not an audience for Latino literature. We are thrilled to say that today the largest book events in Houston are Latino events. We are proud to bring you Houston's contribution to the Latino Literary Renaissance. Tune into 90.1 FM KPFT Houston every Tuesday at 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM CST for our radio show, or visit www.kpft.org to download the show.
Take action at www.ufw.org/chavezholiday
Past Nuestra Palabra events:
Nuestra Palabra & CMAS present Lorna Dee Cervantes Tuesday, 10-24-06
Nuestra Palabra & The Center for Mexican American Studies Present Acclaimed Mexican American Poet Lorna Dee Cervantes
Tuesday, October 24, 7 pm – 8:30 pm.
University of Houston Architecture Building Theatre
4200 Elgin, Entrance 18, Houston, TX 77004. Free Admission.
Hosted by Nuestra Palabra Director Tony Diaz, the evening will include performances by young poets inspired by Lorna’s writings. A reception and book signing will follow. The event will be broadcast live on 90.1 FM, KPFT, from 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm.
Lorna Dee Cervantes
"This is what it means to be a poet." – Ana Castillo
"She taught us that poetry can change the world." – Sandra Cisneros
“We are transfixed as she juggles rage, cruelties, passion.†– Joy Harjo
Free parking. Directions to the Architecture Building from I-45 South (downtown): - exit Cullen, - turn right on Cullen. - turn left at 1st light, Elgin St., - turn right into UH Entrance 18, - the Architecture Building is straight ahead, - to park, turn right at stop sign, - turn right into parking lot 16B
Brought to you by: Texas Commission for the Arts * National Endowment for the Arts * Houston Arts Alliance * Houston Community College TV * Houston Community College Central English Department * The Center for Mexican American Studies * KPFT 90.1 FM * The University of Houston
713.867.8943
www.nuestrapalabra.org
****************************
Literary Ofrenda with Nuestra Palabra, Wednesday Oct 25, 2006, 6pm to 8pm
Admission: Free
In celebration of Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos, Lawndale and Houston's Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say will present an evening of literary ofrendas (offerings) to the late authors, Trindad Sanchez Jr. and Gloria Anzaldua. It's a unique Lawndale experience where local writers, poets and essayists will offer various forms of poetry and prose honoring these influential and internationally celebrated writers. Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be Tony Diaz, author, Founder and Artistic Director of Nuestra Palabra. Special guests UH Professor Maria Gonzalez; San Antonio performance artist Anel Flores, slam poets Jasminne Rosario and Zelene Pineda, and dj poets Joe B. and Scorpio, and mas, always mas. Bring pictures, poems, & presents to place on the altars celebrating the legacies of these great artists.
Lawndale Art Center
4912 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77002
713-528-5858
www.lawndaleartcenter.org
***********************
http://bestof.houstonpress.com
We want to thank all of you for voting Nuestra Palabra as the Houston Press 2006 Best of Houston Readers' Choice for Best Nonprofit! We value your support! THANK YOU HOUSTON!
-Nuestra Palabra - Latino Writers Having Their Say
The Nuestra Palabra Crew:
Tony Diaz, Founder & Host
Liana Lopez, Co-Host & Co-Producer
Bryan Parraz, Co-Host, Co-Producer & Project Manager
Angie Moreno, Co-Host & Co-Producer
Houston Press 2006 Best of Houston:
Best NonProfit (Readers' Choice): Nuestra Palabra
and Best Nonprofit Houston Press Choice: Grassroots: Art In Action www.grassrootsartinaction.org (Check them out!)
Best Radio Station (Readers' Choice): 90.1 FM KPFT Houston
*****************************
The featured writers & poets at the Houston Latino Book & Family Festival on May 6 & 7th, 2006:******************************************************
Myspace Codes: MyNiceSpace.com
To All Nuestra Palabra Volunteers for the 4th Annual Edward James Olmos Houston Latino Book & Family Festival:Thank you very much for sharing your time and energy for making our 4th Annual Houston Latino Book and Family Festival a success. This was a tough year because we were at a new time of year and a new site, but with your help we were able to put on a great event. Our authors were thrilled and we have been getting comment after comment about how wonderful our volunteers were. This is straight from Deborah Santana to Maria Elena Salinas, and on. You inspire us and you make this work. Thank you. We hope that it was an enjoyable experience for you. Please realize, if it was not for all of our work, together, this would not happen. Con mucho carin~o, -Tony Diaz ******************************************************We want to thank all of the volunteers that gave up their weekend(s) and evenings to help with the 4th Annual Edward James Olmos Houston Latino Book & Family Festival. It goes without saying that without you, this event would not have been possible. Thank you for the support and for contributing in spreading 'our palabra' that reading, writing and creating is ESSENTIAL in this society if there is ever going to be positive change - The Nuestra Palabra Crew*****************************www.nuestrapalabra.org
www.kpft.org
**********************************************
I edited my profile with Thomas’ Myspace Editor V3.6 !