Faces of experience, full of surprises ..read more

By Dr. Kathleen Contreras Hero.  Super hero.  Living Legend.  Role model.  Humble.  He had all these attributes.  Why weren’t books written about him? Children need both mirrors and windows to reflect their own cultural background and allow them to see the light of others. That was my motivation to research one of L.A. Dodger’s living legends and cultural icons… Fernando “El Toro” Valenzuela.  Few adult books talk about Fernando; but yet, no books for children on one of baseball’s most talented and popular ball players could be found. Why not?  ..read more

The Gluten-free Chicano Cooks Zuppa al Polpette, Lee's Green Soup Tipos who say it's too hot to eat soup in summer have not yet learned that a hot soup on a hot day not only hits the spot, hunger-wise, feed a body hot soup on a hot day and the body goes into a cool-down adjustment. I've believed this my entire conscious life, gente, and now, the Google will back me up! But ni modo on all that. Delicious soup with all those nutrients is exactly what a body needs on a hot summer day. More so on a cold Spring day like we've had lately here in sunny Southern California. So it's always soup weather ..read more

Comentario al libro _Corazón de agua, Heart of Water_ por Carlos Cumpián   Corazón de agua / Heart of Water de Xánath Caraza (Somos en Escrito Literary Foundation Press, 2024) Traducido al inglés por Sandra Kingery ISBN: 979-8-9902068-2-3   Multilingual poet professor Xánath Caraza’s new English and Spanish bilingual collection Corazón de Agua, Heart of Water provides readers with her intimate sensorial observations in crisp elemental language expressed in mainly free-verse. She captures cataloging almost-haiku like topographical cycles of nature parallel to o ..read more

  I wanted to find analytical books about Chicana/o authors.  Easy enough, I thought.  Chicana/o Lit is an accepted literary category, right?  A credible topic for a university course?  That may be, but I quickly learned that there is a sobering lack of biographical and academic studies of Mexican American authors.  There must be several reasons for this, which I don't want to get into here in this short piece for La Bloga.  I will point out that I could not find a definitive biography or serious critique of Tomás Rivera, Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Denise ..read more

by Ernest Hogan Once again, I taught a class at (problematic, it was online via good ol’ Zoom) the Palabras del Pueblo writing workshop. I called it “Gonzo Sciene Fiction, Chicano Style” to give myself a excuse to plug my new book, Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories. Self-promotion is important, kids, do it whenever you can get away with it—hell, even when you can’t get away with it!  It’s called professionalism. There I go, thinking like a teacher again . . . When introducing themselves, students mentioned the Impostor Syndrome about being writers. I ..read more

From LA Librería  www.la-libreria.net    The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is just around the corner. Join us on April 20-21 at the University of Southern California for a weekend packed with books, authors, illustrators, activities, more books :) and, of course, lots of fun!    Come and check our wonderful collection of books in Spanish at the Book Festival! Board books, picture books, comics, chapter books, young adult books, adult books...   Looking for libros? Don't miss our two spots!   * Booth #590, across the Children's Stage *  Booth #00 ..read more

Back in April 1996, the Academy of American Poets declared the first National Poetry Month. Twenty-eight years of growth and having become the world's largest literary celebration, National Poetry Month comes to Northeast Los Angeles with the first annual NELA Poetry Festival.   Literary Festivals don't just happen. This initial foray into a large scale event reflects organizing prowess by unnamed members of host VCP SoCal Poets, helmed by Teresa Mei Chuc with James Evert Jones.  I just returned from the 5th annual San Diego Writers Festival, a one-day event centered around ..read more

Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate In Santa Barbara, Mayor Randy Rowse offered a proclamation for National Poetry Month on Tuesday, April 9. Dos Pueblos High School student, Anna Matthews, recited her award-winning performance of “The Listeners” by Robert Frost. She is the regional champion of the Poetry Out Loud Competition. The proclamation is nine days into poetry month and Santa Barbara has already seen at least three poetry events, including the Spirits in the Air Reading on April 1, Poetry Passages launch last week and the Santa Barbara Literary Journal’s launch of issue 10 a ..read more

   by Daniel Cano                                                                            Sitting in a neighbor's trash, just waiting for me      As I gave my dog, Phoebe, her evening stroll, I noticed a box of books on the sidewalk. Most were throwaways, except for one, Ron Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror, a History of Multicultural America (1993). It was practi ..read more