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World video travel guide
News • United States • 2011-09-22
Cultural Center de Mesilla to Hold Ocotillo Dreams Book Reading and Signing
The Border Book Festival/Cultural Center de Mesilla will host an evening with Melinda Palacio, author of Ocotillo Dreams on Friday, October 7 from 5-9:00 p.m., with a reading at 7:00 p.m. The book is published by Bilingual Review Press and sells for $26 hardcover and $16 paper.
The Bilingual Review Press is at the forefront of presses specializing in U.S. Hispanic literature and scholarly writing. The Press has won numerous awards and continues to publish and distribute the very best in U.S. Hispanic writers, scholars, and artists.
Set in Chandler, Arizona, during the city\'s infamous 1997 migrant sweeps, this riveting tale brings to life the social issues that arise from border policy and economic inequity. Palacio skillfully weaves a story of politics, intrigue, love, and trust in a community that is suspicious of others, an attitude she experienced firsthand after moving to Chandler in the late 1990s.
\"The neighbors suspected that the house I bought was a way-station for undocumented immigrants,\" she recalls. Thus, the seeds for Ocotillo Dreams were sown. In it, we meet Isola, a young woman who inherits a Chandler home and relocates there temporarily. There she learns that her mother had lived a secret life of helping the undocumented workers. Isola must confront her own confusion and sense of loyalty in a strange and unwelcoming environment. As she gets to know her mother from clues left behind, she grapples with issues of identity and belonging that lead her on a journey toward purpose in life and reconnection with her roots.
Melinda Palacio is an accomplished poet and writer who grew up in South Central Los Angeles and now lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans. She holds an M.A. in comparative literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. A 2007 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow and a 2009 poetry alumna of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, she co-edits Ink Byte Magazine, writes a column for online journal La Bloga, and recently completed a full-length poetry manuscript. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, and her poetry chapbook, Folsom Lockdown, won the 2009 Kulupi Press Sense of Place award. Palacio is available for signings and interviews. Please visit Ms. Palacio\'s website at: www.melindapalacio.com.
Upcoming Border Book Festival events include a fundraiser dance at Palacio\'s Bar in Mesilla on Saturday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m. with Frontera Bugalú, a group from El Paso. Tickets are $7 per person and Vintage Vinyl records will be for sale. This fundraiser benefits the 18th Annual Border Book Festival, April 20-22, 2012 as well as other programming.
In addition to the fundraiser dance, the BBF will host a workshop, The Care and Evaluation of Out of Print Book Workshop with book dealer, John Randall, on Saturday, October 15. Cost is $35 and is an all day workshop on learning how to take care of and evaluate your first edition and out of print books. Participants are asked to bring in their books, \'a la Antique Roadshow for evaluation.
Saturday, November 5 the BBF will host two Papel Picado (cut paper) workshops with Catalina Delgado Trunk, master Papel Picado artist born in Coyoacán, México and now living in Albuquerque. Participants will learn the history of papel picado and how to make their own papel using patterns. An exacto knife and a cutting mat are needed. The cost is $55.
For more information on these and other Cultural Center programs, contact 575-523-3988. bbf@borderbookfestival.com.
