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Word on the Street | |
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A Classic Reborn Wings Press will soon release a hardback edition of John Howard Griffin's autobiographical mid-century American classic, Black Like Me. In Black Like Me, Griffin tells of giving up his life as a middle-class white journalist to disguise himself as a black man in the South. Robert Bonazzi, Griffin's official biographer (and now a Wings Press staffer), wanted to bring the book back to life after hearing from school librarians who were tired of dealing with old, tattered, paperback copies of Griffin's narrative. The Wings Press edition, which will be available early in May, includes a new foreword by radio personality and Pulitzer prize-winning author Studs Terkel, a biographical afterword by Bonazzi, additional text from Griffin's manuscripts, and a collection of photos that have not been previously published. Contact Wings Press at 222-8449 for more information. All-Expense Paid Trip Local poet Jenny Browne recently was notified that she has received a prestigious Michener Fellowship, which pays a generous living stipend, tuition, and expenses for up to 10 students per year at the esteemed James A. Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin. This fall she'll begin working toward her MFA in fiction and poetry, but don't worry, Browne's not leaving SA. Report your present, shape your future, submit your abstract Latina Letters is accepting proposals for this year's conference, sponsored by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and St. Mary's University. Held July 15 through 17 on St. Mary's campus, the 2004 topic is "Reporting Our Present, Shaping Our Future: The Representation of Latinas in Contemporary Media and Literature." Featured guests include Ana Castillo, Maria Hinojosa, Alicia Kozameh, Carmen Tafolla, María Martin, and Rosemary Catacalos. Slots for papers, panels, and presentations are open. The Latina Letters staff asks that you send in your abstract by May 3. Call 386-6598 for more information. April is the cruelest month… But it's also poetry month. If you're ready to celebrate, there are plenty of places to go, so clip and save, my friends. Local literati Bryce Milligan and Robert Bonazzi will read at Café Revolución at 7 p.m. on April 8; call Wings Press (222-8449) for more info. On April 10, at 2 p.m., poet Julio Cesar Aguilar will be reading and signing his collection of poems, Illuminated Mysteries, at Valenzuela's Latino Bookstore (732-2229). Then, if you're ready for a road trip, Robert Bly and SA's own Naomi Shihab Nye will headline "Reading Rumi in an Uncertain World" at the North Doubletree hotel in Austin; call 512-326-4071 for more info. Also, poet and novelist Julia Alvarez (remember How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents?) will be at BookPeople in Austin on April 16 at 7 p.m. (603 N. Lamar, 1-800-853-9757) reading a new collection of poems that trace her life and work from her childhood in the Dominican Republic to her adulthood as a celebrated Latina writer. Flashback Donley Watt, local novelist and former Trinity University writer-in-residence, is celebrating the publication of his newest novel, Dancing With Lyndon, which is said to bring 1950s small-town Texas to the page. Check out www.tamu.edu/upress for more info. • ` Compiled by Jen Hamilton ` |
