Las Cubanitas de Bread Loaf together again! - The Miami Book Fair was great. It’s been years since I went and I can’t get over how big it’s gotten, how many vendors, such a wide variety of booksellers, so many people! It was especially impressive to see all the Spanish-language booksellers as well as the authors who write/publish in Spanish represented on the program. When I lived in Miami, the Book Fair was one of my favorite events of the year. I met Toni Morrison there when she came to read from Beloved. To return this time as an author was a dream come true. It was thrilling and deeply humbling.
- There was a little hitch for the panel I was on; the web said the session was at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday but the printed materials said 4:00 p.m. My lovely and talented co-panelists and I were hanging out in the hospitality suite when we were urgently informed that the theatre was packed and that the audience had been patiently waiting but were getting restless. Mia Leonin, Jennine Capot Crucet and I headed downstairs to Prometeo and found just about every seat occupied and folks still coming in to sit in the aisles or stand at the rear of the theatre. The person who was to introduce us was also under the impression that the session was at 4:30 so we started without him though he did eventually show.
- My dear friends Ivonne Lamazares, Elena Pérez and Michelle Barrial were there for me as well as another Bread Loaf buddy, Xoaquima Díaz. Miami Dade was in the house!–all of us have a strong connection to Miami Dade having either graduated from there–Michelle and I met in Comp II back in the day–or teach there in the case of Ivonne (Hialeah campus) and Elena (North campus–my alma mater). Xoaquima teaches at the New World campus where my husband earned his first degree. My sister- and brother-in-law both attended Miami-Dade.
Turns out Mia and I were at Bread Loaf in 1997!
Mi papi con mi libro
View from the front gate of Georgetown University
Just returned from a wonderful weekend in the DC area. On Thursday I had the pleasure and privilege of sharing my work with colleagues, faculty and students at Georgetown University for their Symposium on Family, Migration and Labor. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the presentations and am especially delighted to have met folks whose work I admire.
Rigoberto González, Ricky Rodríguez and Ricardo Ortiz
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County performance was a success–great sound, space and audience. Conjunto Kimbombo rocked the house–as to be expected.
Jorge Milanés and Kevin Meehan are the heart and soul of their neo-Cuban folk group
Additionally, I was able to reconnect with friends like Dolen Perkins-Valdez whose first novel, Wench, will be released in January. We met at Bread Loaf this summer and she picked me up on Wednesday and we had a lovely afternoon together. Kevin Meehan’s book launch party on Saturday was great; he sold and signed copies of his amazing People Get Ready–a must read for anyone teaching African American and Caribbean literatures.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of forthcoming novel Wench
So, it was a great weekend. Next stop, the Miami Book Fair International!
Conjunto Kimbombo serves up live acoustic Cuban neo-folk music–classic covers and contagious originals–plus spoken word poetry by yours truly–it’s a blessing for me to work with them because they are so talented. Please check out their site (below) and you’ll hear for yourself how amazing they are. They’ve been together for about nine years and I just started performing with them in the last couple of years. Jorge Milanés sings, composes and plays percussion (and he’s my partner); Kevin Meehan does almost everything else including beautiful guitar and composing too.
Next Friday we’ll be at the University of Maryland-Baltimore. We start promptly at 6 pm in the UMBC Commons. Copies of Conjunto Kimbombo’s new CD “El Ministerio de Alegria” for sale at the show. This is our only appearance in the MD-DC area that is open to the public, so come and check it out!
| Date: |
Friday, November 6, 2009
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| Time: |
6:00pm – 7:00pm
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| Location: |
UMBC, Flat Tuesdays
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Sample streaming cuts from the CD at Sonicbids
May 2009 Performance at UCF
A big thank you to Marcia Brooks for her enthusiastic support and for encouraging her students to attend my reading and book signing on Saturday at the Orange County Public Library downtown. Marcia was a student in a Latino/a literature class I taught about three years ago and I have been happy to reconnect with her this year. She attended my UCF reading at the campus bookstore and took some great photos for me there. I’m standing next to her here.
Marcia Brooks and her students
Thank you, Marcia! Mil gracias a sus estudiantes tambien!
Gearing up for two presentations in the Baltimore/DC area. Thursday, November 5th at Georgetown and Friday, November 6th with Conjunto Kimbombo at the University of Marlyand at Baltimore. Check the Calendar of Events tab for more details.
Annie Laurie Wheat's 9:00 a.m. class
Hello all,
I finally found my camera and so am including photos here from my South Carolina trip to Winthrop University. Many thanks to my neighbors Annie Laurie Wheat and Bob Stonebraker for their hospitality and especially to Annie Laurie for her coordinating efforts. It was great to meet so many of her students and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with the Seniors at Grace group.
This Saturday, Oct. 24th, I’ll be performing/presenting at the Orange County Public Library downtown at 2:00 p.m. Check the Calendar of Events tab for the exact address. I’ll have books with me for anyone who wants signed copies. Looking forward to seeing more folks and sharing stories. Check the photo gallery for more photos of my time South Carolina.
Some of these folks really got into the dancing lesson
Messing around with the camera
FemRhet 2009 was a great experience. Every single panel I attended was illuminating and impressive. The speakers included lots of my dear friends from CCCC–folks I’ve known for many years. Two people I’ve met in the last year at the Latino/a Caucus business meeting are Alexandra Hidalgo and Cristina D. Ramirez. Alex presented on her new documentary about plastic surgery in Venezuela and Cristina talked about her work on Mexican women writers of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Fascinating and important work–check out their beautiful webpages for more information on these projects as well as others.
My talk, “‘My English is Not Very Good Looking’–Accents and Identities,” was a cross genre presentation including a little music, some cultural criticism, memoir and fiction, was very well received. Thanks to Malea Powell for her support and for inviting me.
Next stop is Rock Hill, South Carolina where I will be reading on Thursday evening at the Bookworm Bookstore on the campus of Wintrhop University. Annie Laurie Wheat, my once and always neighbor, will have me speaking to her classes on Friday as well as with a Senior group in the community.
- Just before my talk at the Kellogg Center
Malea Powell invited me to join an amazing group of scholars, activists and artists.
I’m off to Lansing tomorrow to participate in the FemRhet Conference at Michigan State University. My plenary presentation will combine fiction, memoir, cultural criticism and pop culture. How’s that for un arroz con mango?
The title of my presentation is “‘My English is Not Very Good Looking’–Accents and Identities.” I will discuss ways in which we use and abuse accents to perform our identities. Actually, it is way more fun than it sounds–there will even be salsa music. I’ll tell you how it goes–425 people have registered for the conference. Talk about a captive audience!
Reading at Inkwood Books
Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of reading at Inkwood Books in Tampa. There are very few independent bookstores left in the country and I think booklovers need to step up and show that we value them. Everyone knows what to expect in a big franchise bookstore but you never know what to expect in an independent bookstore and that’s one of the lovely thrills of exploring them.
Last night I arrived at Inkwood early enough to browse their shelves and was delighted to find books by many of my newfound friends met at Bread Loaf. I even discovered a new book–Burn This Book–edited by Toni Morrison, the writer whose work has had such a huge impact on me. I loved all the nooks and crannies of Inkwood, a great old house of the 1920s, and enjoyed chatting with patrons before and after the reading. I urge you all to go out and find a local, independent bookstore, and support them with your patronage.
B&N store at University of Central Florida
My book is mentioned on La Bloga–yea! Here’s the link to La Bloga–it’s on the September 29th page, about a third of the way down from the top. Thank you, thank you, mil gracias a La Bloga. This site is a must read for anyone interested in Latino/a literature. Their front page says: “Chicana, Chicano, Latina, Latino, & more. Literature, Writers, Children’s Literature, News, Views & Reviews.” And just check out the long list of writers featured (left column).
Thanks to all my dear friends, former students, colleagues and the lovely ladies of Lambda Theta Alpha for turning out this afternoon. It was a very nice group and I was happy to see people I haven’t seen in months (even years!). I read “Muchacha (After Jamaica)” and “Failed Secrets”–two of my favorite stories that happen to be very short and thus, book-signing/reading friendly.
“Muchacha” is modeled after Jamaica Kincaid’s amazing story “Girl” from At the Bottom of The River. Reading “Girl” inspired me to create my own “Cuban” version since I could hear, quite vividly, all the lessons and messages that had bombarded my girlhood. And of course, our mothers aren’t the only ones compelled to give us unsolicited advice and warnings–cousins, aunts, neighbors, family friends and so on. Everyone, especially the older woman, is quite easily encouraged to provide direction and guidance. And it’s a good thing–generally.
The other story I read, “Failed Secrets” is more serious and about a woman who leaves Cuba in the 1950s and creates a new life for herself in “el norte” because her life on the island is precarious.
So, today marks the beginning of a busy season for me. Next Thursday, I’ll be at Inkwood Books in Tampa for a reading and signing followed by events pretty much every week thereafter culminating in the Miami International Book Fair. I’ll be at Michigan State at the FemRhet Conference, at Winthrop University in South Carolina, at the downtown Orange County Public Library and Georgetown University. Please do check the Calendar of Events tab at the top of this page for all the specifics on time and place. Looking forward to meeting more folks and sharing stories.
Me and the Lovely LTA sisters
