Friday, May 30, 2008

Hipsters to Flying Pigs; Heartland Poetry to Spanglish Quixote

Two very different author events coming up in June at the Tattered Cover. They each sound intriguing but I admit I'm drawn to 6 Sick Hipsters. Here are the book store announcements.

GIRLS RULE! DENISE VEGA, LYNDA SANDOVAL, TERRI CLARK
Time: Saturday, June 21, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Location: Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue, Denver
As part of Booked, a new series of interactive events for young readers, three local authors will discuss and sign their new books for teens. Denise Vega will present her book Fact of Life #31 (Random House), and Lynda Sandoval and Terri Clark will discuss their new book Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Houghton Mifflin). This will not be your ordinary panel discussion. It will be three of our favorite authors with their guards down, taking questions, reading, offering a playlist for one of the books, and more!

Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com


RAYO CASABLANCA - 6 SICK HIPSTERS
Time: Friday, June 27, 2008 7:30 p.m.
Location: Tattered Cover Historic LoDo

Denver author Rayo Casablanca is a film and music critic who has contributed short fiction and pop culture criticism to McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Geek Monthly, Splendid and Juked among others. In the late '90s Rayo self-published Sinema Brut, a critically acclaimed 'zine devoted to European Trash Cinema. Casablanca will read from and sign his debut novel 6 Sick Hipsters (Kensington), a hilarious, frenetic, adrenalin-charged murder mystery, that does for modern day Williamsburg, Brooklyn, what Bret Easton Ellis's Less than Zero did for '80s L.A. - but with a knowing grin and a far cooler soundtrack.

Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com



PRIMERA PÁGINA
The Latino Writers Collective of Kansas City announced the publication of Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland, described as the first of its kind to feature Latino writers of the Midwest. Francisco Aragón, director of the University of Notre Dame’s Letras Latinas and Institute for Latino Studies, writes, “Primera Página is more than a book, more than an anthology. It’s a community—one borne of community-building in the best sense of the term.” Poet Virgil Suarez writes, “This first anthology ... by the Latino Writers Collective, is a breath of fresh air. The voices here have verve and power.” This anthology includes poems by such established poets as Gloria Vando, editor of Helicon Nine Editions and winner of the Latino Literary Hal of Fame for her poetry collection Shadows & Supposes (Arte Publíco Press). Also included are former Taco Shop Poets member Tomás Riley of California, who was featured at the collective’s reading series in Kansas City last year, and Andrés Rodríguez, author of Night Song (Tía Chucha Press). Newer voices include Chato Villalobos, a Kansas City, Mo., police officer; Marcelo Xavier Trillo, a former gang leader and past intern to poet Jimmy Santiago Baca; Gabriela N. Lemmons, who has work forthcoming in Just Like a Girl: A Manifesta (Girlchild Press), and Angela Cervantes, a recent runner-up in The Missouri Review’s Audio Competition. Other contributors include José Faus, editor of the Kansas City Hispanic News, and Linda Rodriguez, author of the forthcoming I Don’t Know How to Cook Mexican (Adams Media).

The Latino Writers Collective, based in the Kansas City metropolitan area, organizes and coordinates projects for the larger community, especially to showcase national and local Latino writers and provide role models and instruction to Latino youth. The collective sponsors an annual reading series in Kansas City and plans release of a performance CD later this year. Primera Página is $16.95 in trade paperback, 173 pp. For more information or to request a media review copy, contact Ben Furnish at (816) 824-6814 or scapegoatpress@sbcglobal.net. This book is available to bookstores and libraries through Baker & Taylor.

Scapegoat Press, P.O. Box 410962, Kansas City, Missouri 64141

WHEN PIGS FLY, MEN HAVE BABIES, AND PEACE AND JUSTICE RULE THE WORLD

One night only! Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:30pm in the Ricketson Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex downtown. Tickets are $22 general, $18 students/seniors/NPAC participants, with a special $16 comadre group rate. Ca ll El Centro Su Teatro at (303) 296-0219 to purchase your tickets today! Seating for this performance IS ASSIGNED. The first buyers get the best seats! Celebrate summertime with this hilarious barrio fairytale. Call now!





ARTICLE ON ILAN STAVANS
The Stanford Daily carried a piece about Ilan Stavans, prolific writer, professor, editor, etc., who recently visited the Stanford campus. The article reported that Stavans's lecture touched on a variety of subjects including the "cultural phenomenon" of Spanglish; why he thinks it's important to translate Don Quixote into Spanglish; and how Mexican immigrants in the U.S. are in some ways the Jews of today, arguing that “no other groups would accept such [verbal abuse]” like the abuse immigrants receive. The article is worth a look.

Later.


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