Tag Archives: Hector Tobar

September 16, 2011 · 8:04 am

Festival time!

Hispanic authors will be making their mark at book festivals this fall.

The Brooklyn Book Festival begins this weekend, and other festivals across the country will follow in the coming months. The festivals feature readings, question-and-answer panels, and autograph sessions by the writers. Here’s a list (not definitive) of some of the major festivals:

• The Brooklyn Book Festival, which starts Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 15-18, will include Juan Gonzalez, Sigrid Nunez, Esmeralda Santiago (pictured at left) and Justin Torres.

• Esmeralda Santiago will speak at the National Book Festival Sept. 24-25 in Washington, D.C.

• The West Hollywood Book Fair, which takes place Oct. 2, will feature David A. Hernandez, Melinda Palacio, Felice Picano, Héctor Tobar, Justin Torres and Marcos M. Villatoro.

• Julia Alvarez and Carlos Eire are scheduled to speak at the Boston Book Festival Oct. 15.

• The Southern Festival of the Books will take place in Nashville Oct. 14-16. Lisa D. Chavez, Lorraine López, Helena Mesa, Justin Torres (pictured at right) and Marisel Vera are on the schedule.

• The Texas Book Festival, which runs from Oct. 22-23 in Austin, will feature Sarah Cortez, Kami Garcia, Dagoberto Gilb, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Artemio Rodriguez, Mary Romero, René Saldaña, Jr., Alex Sanchez, Hector Tobar, Justin Torres, Sergio Troncoso, and Richard Yañez – not to mention 250 other writers. Wow! Just goes to show, everything is bigger and better in Texas.

• Sadly, the Los Angeles Latino Book & Family Festival, which was scheduled for Oct. 8-9, has been canceled due to budget issues.

• Luis Urrea (pictured at left) will speak at the Louisiana Book Festival Oct. 29 in Baton Rouge.

• The Miami Book Fair Festival International takes place Nov. 13-20. A list of authors had not been posted on its website yet.

1 Comment

Filed under Events

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 5, 2011 · 7:29 am

A look at fall books

Many publications have released their list of “hot fall books,” and Hispanic authors are nowhere to be seen.

They’re not on BookPage’s list. Not on the Atlantic’s list. Not on New York’s list. This is odd, since there are some interesting books coming out by Hispanic authors this fall. They include:

• Justin Torres’s We the Animals, about three boys raised by a Puerto Rican father and a white mother, is already out. He has gotten a lot of media attention, as noted by Syracuse.com, and the Shelf Awareness e-newsletter.

 

 

• Ariel Dorfman, the author of Death and the Maiden, writes about his life after the 1973 Chilean coup in Feeding on Dreams: Confessions of a Unrepetent Exile. The book will be released in September.

 

 

• Ballet dancer Jock Soto, who is half Puerto Rican and half American Indian, discusses his life and career in Every Step You Take, out in October.

 

 

 

• The Barbarian Nurseries, coming out in October, centers on a Los Angeles family and their Mexican maid. Author Hector Tobar, whose parents are Guatemalan, writes a column for The Los Angeles Times. (And kudos to More magazine, which put the novel on its fall books list.)

 

 

• Texan Dagoberto Gilb’s collection of short stories, Before the End, After the Beginning, comes out in November.

 

 

 

• Mexican-American Luis Alberto Urrea will release Queen of America, his sequel to The Hummingbird’s Daughter, in December.

Do you notice something missing from this list? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any books coming out from Latinas. If you know of any other fall books, let me know at Hispanicreader (at) gmail (dot) com.

Leave a comment

Filed under 2011 Books

Tagged as , , , , ,