Re-Imagining the Border: Mesilla's 12th Annual Border Book Festival, April 21-26, 2006
Melinda Palacio -- April 16, 2006
Politics has pushed the issue of the Border to the forefront with a discourse of divisiveness and fear. In the pueblo of Mesilla, New Mexico, the old town of Las Cruces, the Border Book Festival strives to break barriers and celebrate the diversity and creativity of our border culture.
The three-day fiesta is a celebration for the community, a dizzying display of books, presses, poets, authors, artists, writing workshops for teens and adults, cartoon workshops with L.A. cartoonist, Lalo Alcaraz (http://www.lacucaracha.com/), discussion panels, foods, dance troupes, a children's parade with giant puppets, and a dance in the plaza with Dulce a popular band from Las Cruces.
Executive Director of the Border Book Festival and Cultural Center of Mesilla, Denise Chávez has outdone herself. She's bringing in poets from Mexico and some of the most important voices in border literature, including Aristeo Brito, winner of this year's Premio Fronterizo and Luis Albert Urrea, a past recipient of the Premio and author of The Hummingbird's Daughter.
Chávez is thrilled to bring these cultural events to her community. This year is especially important as many of the local students are at a loss over the current immigration proposals and protests. "If ever our youth needed love and direction, this is the time," said Chávez, author of The Last of the Menu Girls, Face of An Angel, Loving Pedro Infante, and, her latest, A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food and Culture. She recently visited the students at Oñate High School and imparted a much needed pep talk.
"I read and talked and gave books to over 300 bilingual immigrant students. They are confused and saddened by the current immigration situation. Our youth feel marginalized and lost. Our children don't know who they are. Are we American? Mexican? We're both I said and what a celebration that should be. We need to remember we are all in this together and yes, there is a way to work through the challenging issues of borderland with grace, creativity and respect for all life."
Who better to wade through the process of re-imagining the border than the authors and artists who have painted a picture of this marginal and magical place?
The list of literary luminaries attending the festival is impressive, and they all have a special connection to the border. This should be the era of the Chicano, but instead we are dealing with prejudices and injustices spelled out since our earliest conception of the Mexican border. It's only appropriate that this years winner of the Premio Fronterizo is Aristeo Brito, founder, professor, promoter of Chicano Education and an award winning author.
Brito's experimental novel, The Devil in Texas, examines the intersection of history, fiction and the border culture of Presidio. In his tale about the displacement and marginalization of immigrants, Brito personifies the Rio Grande as the devil. The issues in this story remain eerily relevant as though the author wrote the novel a week ago instead of 30 years ago.
The historical novel shows Brito's ease with more than one Spanish voice. He takes on social commentary with the mastery of a poet. "You have to be poet," said Brito. "I was very deliberate in using poetic prose." Professor Brito will receive the 2006 Premio Fronterizo for his lifelong body of work. The Award will also include readings by Emmy Award winning author Rubén Martinez, The Other Side, and Norma Cantúu, Canícula.
Past recipient of the Premio Fronterizo, Luis Alberto Urrea will help kick off the festivities on Friday with Probaditas, a tasting and reading from his award winning novel, The Humingbird's Daughter, along with Denise Chávez and Margaret Randall, Memory Says Yes.
Urrea's book about Teresita won the prestigious Kiriyama Prize and he is a tour de force in border literature. His first book, Across the Wire was named N.Y. Times Notable Book and won the Christopher Award. Urrea's short story collection, Six Kinds of Sky was named small-press book of the year in 2002. His non-fiction book, The Devil's Highway was a finalist for the 2005 pulitzer Prize. He's been inducted into the Latino Literature Hall of Fame and two of his books are being rendered onto the silver screen, The Humingbird's Daughter and Devil's Highway.
The decorated author is proud but humbled by his success with The Humingbird's Daughter. He hasn't forgotten the hard work that has gone into the last 20 years in writing about Teresita. He delved deep into the sacred and the power of women to write about his distant relative who was a genuine force of nature, a healer. "I've always been interested in the female world and the power of women," said Urrea who takes a mystical approach to writing.
"It's a pusuit for me, a spiritual discipline that's been a passageway to deeper things. Writing became a way to appreciate how sacred the world is."
His research on Teresita and the teachings of Huila have centered him and his writing: he faced a solid ten years of rejection with his book Across the Wire. Urrea has accepted both the humility and blessings that have come full circle as a result of his hard work and dedication to telling the truth. Teresita was a real relative of Urrea's. However, he chose to write her story as a novel, "fiction made it more true and real." Urrea's elegant homage to Teresita is sacred, poetic and funny. Humor brings to life rascals like Buenaventura, the romantic antics of Don Tomás and the biting balance of Huila's spiritual and earthly existence.
Urrea admits it is his strange fate to build bridges. "The border becomes an issue of other borders. We all have 100 borders. It influences the border discussions." Join the conversations and celebrations of the Border Book Festival. Urrea's web site is at http://www.luisurrea.com/.