News and notes from the San Antonio literary scene
Contemporary Art Month tends to dominate San Antonio's media waves in July, but the month is also home to two major literary events: Gemini Ink's Summer Festival, July 8-24, and the Latina Letters conference, July 14-16.
In addition to the usual line-up of summer classes, including poetry, fiction, a young writers class, and a non-fiction seminar taught by the Current's Lisa Sorg, Gemini's 2005 Summer Festival will feature readings, its 2 to Watch match-up between an artist and a writer, and a Dramatic Reader's Theater.
This year's theme is Purple Mountain Majesties: Writing in the Natural World. On July 8, nature writer Susan Hanson and "Alaska's Fiddling Poet" Ken Waldman will join Gemini faculty for a special reading. Participants in the Young Writers Camp ages 13-18 will take the spotlight at the July 15 reading, followed by 8-12 year olds on July 22. Award-winning painter Lloyd Walsh has been tapped as one of 2 to Watch for the July 21 slide presentation and reading. He'll be joined by performance poet Anthony Flores.
The Dramatic Reader's Theater presentation on July 24 will coincide with World of Water, the new permanent exhibition at the Witte Museum `see "Deep Waters," December 29, 2004-January 4, 2005`. Titled Water Works, the event will include a walking tour of the grounds and a new water sculpture, and the first-ever incorporation of dance in the Reader's Theater. For complete festival information, call 734-9673, or visit geminiink.org.
Titled Ten Years of Latina Letters, Three Decades of Latina Literature, the 2005 Latina Letters conference will feature presentations and panel discussions led by Sandra Cisneros, Pat Mora, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Ana Menéndez, and filmmaker Lourdes Portillo among other writers, scholars, and performers. The conference is cosponsored by St. Mary's University and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. For times, locations, and more information, call the Guadalupe at 271-3480, e-mail [email protected], or visit guadalupeculturalarts.org.
Don Ford Jr., an author from El Paso's smokin'-hot Cinco Puntos press, will read from and sign Contrabando, his memoir of life as a drug-smuggler, 2-4 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at the Northwoods Barnes & Noble, 18030 Hwy. 281. For more info, call 490-0411.
Comiled by Elaine Wolff
