Check out the interview with R. Ch. Garcia, award winning author of The Closet of Discarded Dreams and ​Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub at Latinopia. 

Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub is in the running for the 7th Latino Books Into Movies competition, hosted by the International Latino Book Awards.

​R. Ch. Garcia had a dozen adult, short stories and one alternate-world novel published under another name. But that's unimportant because anymore he only writes stories for young adults and children. His first was a children's fable, in Spanish, published by Cricket in Revista Iguana.

Writing in Northside Denver, he gardens, landscapes, woodworks and cares for cactus and wild birds that visit his and wife Carmen's gardens, like his two Nietos. Plus he has a bright, friendly dog Menqui and a sorta good cat, Great Huntress.

He's lucky and privileged to live well, so his writing focuses on young people for the day everyone can be as lucky.

His adopted credo: "Give up on the adults! Give up on the adults!" – P. Bacigalupi

If so, we invite you to send us your writings! Help us illuminate both the enduring and the new Xicana identity, presence and culture in our new multi-genre and multi-generational creative writing anthology. 
 
Join us in revealing and exploring how Xicana identity impacts lifestyle, values, principles, political stances, education, anti-colonialism resistance, brown female empowerment, spirituality, relationships to ancestral knowledge, motherhood, future generations, indigenous activism, La Lucha movement, art, etc. through your writings. 
 
From Cholas to Madrinas, first generation immigrants to barrio natives, “no sabo kids” to Spanglish speakers, copal-burning-temachtianis to brown-beret-wearers, etc. we invite you to draw from your essence, pour it into a poem, a short story, a personal vignette, etc., and send it to us! 
 
* All submitted pieces will be carefully considered for publication. Both emerging and established writers of all ages welcome. We are looking for writers eager and passionate about continuing the complex and evolving, resilient Xicana narrative.*
​

​Nuestros Abuelos Fueron Braceros y Nosotros También won First Prize in the national competition sponsored by the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española in coordination with the University of Texas San Antonio. The book, written in Spanish with an English translation, is an award-winning publication of the Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press. The prize was announced February 8, 2023.
 
The book
Titled in English, Our Grandfathers Were Braceros and We Too, the book reveals the shameful treatment of millions of Mexican men who harvested the nation’s food during World War II.
 
Co-authors Rosa Martha Zárate Macías and Abel Astorga Morales draw from archival records and interviews with former braceros to expose the inhumane treatment and labor rights abuses of millions of workers during the Bracero Program (1942-1964). The book includes the original Spanish text and translation into English by Madeline Newman Ríos, along with photos showing working and housing conditions.
 
An awards ceremony is scheduled for Friday, March 31, 2023, at the UT San Antonio downtown campus, sponsored by the Bicultural-Bilingual Studies Department.
 
The book also won first prize Gold in the category, “Victor Villaseñor Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book Award–Spanish or Bilingual” in the International Latino Book Awards (ILBA) competition announced August 20, 2022.

Sobre el premio Campoy-Ada
El Premio Campoy-Ada, establecido en el 2017 en convocatorias bianuales, tiene por objetivo celebrar la publicación en español de libros para niños y jóvenes publicados en los Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. Patrocinado por el consorcio entre La Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE) y la Universidad de Texas en San Antonio (UTSA), este premio abarca 24 categorías de ficción y no ficción, con temas latino-céntricos y temas universales que faciliten la comprensión multicultural de la sociedad estadounidense. Su nombre celebra a dos pioneras de la literatura bilingüe infantil y juvenil en los Estados Unidos: F. Isabel Campoy y Alma Flor Ada.

Miembros del jurado Premio Campoy-Ada de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua y la Universidad de Texas-San Antonio, incluyen:
• Dr. Claudia Treviño García, Vicepresidenta. San Antonio Area Association for Bilingual Education (SAAABE)
• Dr. Eduardo Lolo, Miembro Numerario de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española
• Dr. Ana Pallares-Weissling, Profesora Adjunta. Departamento de Educación Bicultural-Bilingüe, UTSA
• Dr. Gerardo Piña-Rosales, Miembro Numerario de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española
• Dr. Hilda Rodríguez, Educadora en Harlansdale ISD
• Dr. Howard L. Smith, Profesor. Departamento de Educación Bicultural-Bilingüe, UTSA
• Kenya Vargas, Estudiante de Doctorado. Departamento de Educación Bicultural-Bilingüe, UTSA
• Coordinación General: Dra. Patricia Sánchez, Profesora y Directora. Departamento de Educación Bicultural-Bilingüe, UTSA
• Alma Flor Ada, Miembro Numerario de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española
• F. Isabel Campoy, Miembro Numerario de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española

​Reunido el jurado en su cuarta convocatoria de 2022, y habiendo considerado los méritos lingüísticos y culturales y la calidad literaria y artística de los libros, publicados entre los años 2020 y 2022, sometidos a este premio, dan a conocer a los siguientes ganadores [descargue el siguiente archivo para ver el comunicado de prensa completo/download the file below for the full press release].

ISBN: 9798361693610
Publisher: Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press (November 12, 2022)
Language: English with Spanish mixed in
Paperback: 233 pages

Ada Limón, named the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States by the U.S. Library of Congress this past July, assumes her position today, September 29th, with a reading of her work in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library.

The first Mexican American woman to be named to the position, Limón is originally from Sonoma, California, and is the author of several poetry collections. The Carrying, published in 2018 by Milkweed Editions, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

Limón earned an MFA from New York University and is the recipient of various fellowships. Her works have appeared in numerous publications including the New Yorker, Harvard Review, Pleiades, and Barrow Street.

Limón is the host of the acclaimed podcast, “The Slowdown,” and lives in Lexington, Kentucky.