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The Latino Bookstore & Gift Shop is proud to anchor a Texas Tri-City Tour of Latino Literature following the trail blazed by The Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books.Salvadoran American poet Claudia Castro Luna will visit each stop to present her collection of poetry Cipota Under the Moon. It's published by Tia Chucha Press from Los Angeles California founded by Los Angeles Poet Laureate, and gubernatorial candidate, Luis J. Rodriguez. Rodriguez's books formed part of the Mexican American Studies curriculum banned in Arizona.
The Latino Bookstore will provide sales at each stop and the tour culminates in San Antonio for the Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series Friday, July 1, 2022, 6 pm. Admission is free. That evening will also feature a reading by Chicana writer ire'ne lara silva who will present her new book Hibiscus Tacos.
Cristina Balli, Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, which houses the bookstore, said, "The Latino Bookstore is not only a state-wide destination for Texas Latino authors, but it is also a fountain of support for Latino Literature in other cities. This is one way that we can support Latino authors, publishers, and communities. This is another way to address the book deserts that engulf Latino communities in other cities."
Each evening will be hosted by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, Literary Curator of the Latino Bookstore. He said, "Book bans will not silence our community. Book deserts will not snuff out our voices. Our movement will continue to defy attacks on intellectual freedom. We are building on the trail we have blazed with the Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Now we are uniting three major Texas cities again, and we are uniting with our brothers and sisters from California. We will not rest until our community has full access to this Art, History, and Culture."
Each stop will also feature writers, visual artists, and musicians from each city and the Central American community.
Each stop also reflects the nuances of the Latino Community. Houston has the largest Central American population and the most governmental infrastructure for that community. Austin's stop is less than half a mile from the state capitol building where gentrification is encircling the Mexican American Community. And San Antonio is the site of the only Latino Bookstore in Texas. Each stop is an oasis in book deserts surrounding Latino communities.
Here are the 3 Cities:
Houston: Home of The Librotraficantes.
Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 6 pm. Free.
The Alta Arts
5412 Ashbrook Dr,
Houston, TX 77081
Austin:
Thursday, June 30, 2022, 6 pm. Free.
La Peña, Inc., site of the Librotraficante Under Ground Library in Austin.
227 Congress Ave.
Austin, Tx 78701
512.477.6007
San Antonio:
Friday, July 1, 2022, 6 pm. Free.
The Latino Bookstore
1300 Guadalupe
San Antonio, TX 78207
Part of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
About: Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). Castro Luna’s newest collection of poetry is Cipota Under the Moon from Tia Chucha Press. She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press), the Pushcart nominated Killing Marías(Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press). Her most recent non-fiction is in There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis (Vintage). Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children.
About: ire’ne lara silva is the author of four poetry collections, furia, Blood Sugar Canto, CUICACALLI/House of Song, and FirstPoems, two chapbooks, Enduring Azucares and Hibiscus Tacos, and a short story collection, flesh to bone, which won the Premio Aztlán. She and poet Dan Vera are also the co-editors of Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, a collection of poetry and essays. ire’ne is the recipient of a 2021 Tasajillo Writers Grant, a 2017 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant, the final Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Award, and was the Fiction Finalist for AROHO’s 2013 Gift of Freedom Award. Most recently, ire’ne was awarded the 2021 Texas Institute of Letters Shrake Award for Best Short Nonfiction. ire’ne is currently a Writer at Large for Texas Highways Magazine and is working on a second collection of short stories titled, the light of your body. Website: irenelarasilva.wordpress.com
The Latino Bookstore’s Texas Author Series takes place every First Friday. Subsequent authors will represent the entire state of Texas. Their work also touches on many other aspects of Latino culture, Mexican American History, and the other art fields that the GCAC specializes in.
Additional programming includes community readings for local authors on Saturdays.
The Mexican American Studies Series and more!
Friday, Aug 5, 2022, 6 pm: The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series features the national launch. of the non-fiction book The Tip of The Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, 723 S Brazos St, San Antonio, United States