Rosa Martha Villarreal, a retired Adjunct Professor at Consumnes River College in Sacramento, California, is author of several novels important to American literature, including Doctor Magdalena, The Stillness of Love and Exile, and Chronicles of Air and Dreams, and a children's book, The Adventures of Wyglaf the Wyrm. ​

Rafael Jesús González, Prof. Emeritus of literature and creative writing, was born and raised biculturally/bilingually in El Paso, Texas/Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, and taught at University of Oregon, Western State College of Colorado, Central Washington State University, University of Texas El Paso (Visiting Professor of Philosophy), and Laney College, Oakland, California where he founded the Dept. of Mexican & Latin-American Studies. Also visual artist, he has exhibited in the Oakland Museum of California, the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, and others in the U.S. and Mexico. Nominated four times for a Pushcart prize, he was honored by the National Council of Teachers of English and Annenberg CPB for his writing in 2003. In 2013 he received a César E. Chávez Lifetime Award and was honored by the City of Berkeley with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 13th Annual Berkeley Poetry Festival 2015. He was named the first Poet Laureate of Berkeley in 2017. His poetry collection Chalchihuixochitl, Flor de Piedra Verde, Flower of Jade was published by Nomadic Press in 2022. Visit http://rjgonzalez.blogspot.com/. 

Comes see us at Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore in San Francisco for the launch of El Porvenir, ¡Ya! the first Chicano sci-fi anthology! Contributors and editors Armando Rendon, Scott Russell Duncan, and Ricardo Tavarez will be there live and Carmen Baca, Martin Hill Ortiz, and Ernest Hogan will Zoom in and be projected on a screen. A group interview will be conducted by Bay Area writer and editor Michelle Robles-Wallace. 

The anthology will be available and Armando will also have copies of 50th anniversary Chicano Manifesto. 

If you can't make it, be sure to check out the live video on our Facebook page.
https://fb.me/e/1ha91kAwP

​Chicanofuturism is now!

The Editors of Somos en escrito Magazine extend their condolences to the family and friends of Rolando Hinojosa-Smith.

Rolando Hinojosa has been one of the most prolific Chicano writers over the past 50 years with much of his work set against the backdrop of a fictional small town, Klail City, that he created in south Texas. He sought to portray his hometown, Mercedes, Texas, from the perspective of being one with the land and the people. At the same time, he projected the universality of life along the border.

An essayist, poet and teacher as well, Rolando taught writing as Ellen Clayton Garwood professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The National Book Critics Circle honored him in 2013 with its Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. Hinojosa was the first Chicano author to receive the prestigious Premio Casa de las Américas award for Klail City y sus alrededores (Klail City), and received the third Premio Quinto Sol Annual Prize in 1973 for his work, Estampas del Valle y otras obras.

In a lengthy interview published in Americana E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary, Vol. IX, Number 1, Spring 2013, he told the interviewer when asked what he considered the most relevant, either practical or theoretical, aspects that he felt important to share with students: “I teach creative writing at my home institution along with other courses, but in creative writing, I stress reading; we began the class sponsored by Graz University stressing reading. Why? Because reading is imperative; one begins to read, enjoys it, is captivated by it, and one day, begins to write, to create, based, of course, on reading. Some people think that imagination is everything. It isn’t; imagination can only take one so far; one needs to read and to learn from reading and living one’s life and learning how others live.” 

Is there any other practical wisdom, the interviewer asked, and Hinojosa declared: “Yes. I advise beginning writers to use clear, everyday language. To try not to show off how much one knows. An experienced reader will see through the phoniness of using high-toned language when none is called for. Writing is not about self-aggrandizement, that’s for amateurs. A professional has a story to tell, and learning how to tell it without resorting to pointing to oneself is an important part of writing.”
​
Here is a list of his major works, some in English only, others as “renditions” as he referred to his translations of his Spanish or English writings.

We Happy Few. 2006.
Dear Rafe/Mi querido Rafa. 2005.
Ask a Policeman. 1998.
Estampas del Valle. 1994.
El condado de Belken: Klail City. 1994.
The Useless Servants. 1993.
Los amigos de Becky. 1991.
Korea Liebes Lieder/Korean Love Songs. 1991.
Becky and her Friends. 1990.
Klail City. 1987.  
This Migrant Earth. 1987.
Claros varones de Belken. 1986.
Dear Rafe. 1985.
Partners in Crime. 1985.
The Valley. 1983. (Hinojosa's own translation of Estampas del Valle)
Rites and Witnesses. 1982.
Crossing the Line: The Construction of a Poem. 1981.
Mi querido Rafa. 1981.
Klail City und Umgebung. 1981.
Generaciones y semblanzas. 1979.
Generaciones, notas y brechas. 1978.
Korean Love Songs. 1978.
Klail City y sus alrededores. 1976.
Estampas del Valle y otras obras. 1973.
 
 
 

​This study is being conducted to identify key issues and language that will politically mobilize Chicana/o/x peoples in the United States. The hope is by identifying the keywords that aid in political mobilization, political parties specific to the Chicano/Latino community can build mass mobilization campaigns.

The only persons who will know that you participated in this study and survey will be the research team members: principal investigators Ernesto Todd Mireles, Ph.D., and Teofilo Reyes, Ph.D., research assistants Robbie Marquez and Alexander Yanish. Your answers will be confidential. After your responses are recorded, your name and email will be deleted. You will not be identified in any reports or publications resulting from the survey.
​​

A zoom session with R. Ch. Garcia on his new novel Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub

4:00–5:30 pm, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022

Here's your chance to learn about the mythology, history and people that inspired the new Chicano fantasy-sci-fi Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub.

Sign up to hear veteran interviewer Annette Leal Mattern* assist Garcia in sharing literary background of the novel, like:

Where did you get the ideas for your characters? And do your characters deliver any vital lessons?

Are any of the fantasy scenes about real places or true events?

Why does the pace of the two parts of the novel vary so much?

What aspects of Chicano/mexicano/indio culture do you hope readers take away from the book?

[You can also submit questions in advance or on Chat during the Zoom.]

Those attending can also:
• Win a copy of the novel.

• Win a copy of the new Chicano SciFi anthology, Porvenir Ya! featuring a short story by Garcia et al.

• Plus, give your input/opinion on the novel to enter an online drawing for special Dragón T-shirts. [see pic below]
​
Zoom limited to 25 registrants. Contact the author via his webpage if you want to be added to the wait list.
Sign up on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rchgarcia-interview-by-annette-leal-mattern-the-stories-behind-the-story-tickets-266169729827

Annette Leal Mattern is a professional PR/Brand Strategist, Published Author, and Language Nerd. "My contract with the viewer is to guide you in learning whatever will make the reading of the book a better experience."

The title sums up the underlying roots of this collection; it takes Spanish, Nahuatl and English to tell the whole tale. This collection is a coming out party for raza re-interpreters of the past, the now and the future.

The line-up of authors includes:
Ernest Hogan, Mario Acevedo, Frank S. Lechuga, Martin Hill Ortiz, Pedro Iniguez, Nicholas Belardes, Armando Rendón, Lizz Huerta, Emmanuel Valtierra, Rios de La Luz, Beatrice Pita, Rosaura Sánchez, R. Ch. Garcia, Ricardo Tavarez, Rosa Martha Villarreal, Carmen Baca, Scott Russell Duncan, Gloria Delgado, and Kathleen Alcalá.

TO SCHEDULE INTERVIEWS, READINGS, MORE INFORMATION
Contact: editors@somosenescrito.com

Listen to a discussion of El Porvenir, ¡Ya! featuring top writers from the collection on the Reality Dysfunction podcast.

El Porvenir, ¡Ya! is available in paperback and e-book formats through online distributors, such as Amazon, your favorite bookstore, and at the Somos en escrito online Tienda/Store. Check Bookshop and Barnes & Noble in the coming weeks. 

Order your copy now and be a part of Chicanofuturism.

The history and aspirations of the second largest minority in America

Chicano Manifesto, the seminal book on Chicanismo and the Chicano Movement, is now available in a 50th Anniversary Edition. By coincidence, Armando Rendón, the author, is also the publisher as CEO and Executive Director of the Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press, the publishing house Rendón launched in 2016.

“I never could have envisioned that I’d be around to see a reprint of Manifesto a half century after it first came out but I’m not complaining. My intent is that new generations of Mexican Americans join with the elder Chicanas and Chicanos to face the next 50 years with a plan, with commitment to preserving and enhancing la cultura Chicana.”

Care to comment?
In Chicano Manifesto’s pages, you can meet the figures who evoked the idea of a revolution of ideas, aspirations and recognition of an identity which had been suppressed for generations – the Chicano, which is a Mexican American with an attitude, with a national character as in “Mexican American nation,” and aware of the  awesome challenge facing la raza as we confront the next half-century.
​
Anyone who read the book when it was first published by Macmillan Company in 1971, or since then and wishes to reflect on its effects on their lives then and through the years, the ideas that stuck with them, how they see the future for Chicanismo is urged to send a brief commentary to editors@somosenescrito.com. Put the word, Manifesto, in the subject box.

Commentaries will be selected for publication in Somos en escrito Magazine as part of the 50th anniversary observance. 

Ask for 50th Anniversary Edition of Chicano Manifesto at your local bookstore. You can purchase Chicano Manifesto from our store:

And also at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Look for it on Bookshop and other online retailers in the coming weeks.

This year's Extra Fiction contest was very close, we had many great submissions. 
The judge Ernest Hogan has chosen the winners from the five finalists:

1st place:
"Attack of Las Quetas" by Toni Margarita Plummer 

2nd place:
"Beast of Cabo Rojo" by Arnaldo Lopez Jr. 

3rd place:
"Sacred Evolution" by Carmen Baca

Honorary Mentions:
"la guadaña amorosa" by Samir Sirk Morató
"I Migrated to the US to Escape a Demon" by Javier Loustaunau

Thanks to everyone who submitted and to those who shared the announcement. The editors and judge loved reading these stories and hope to encourage all to write and submit their stories, extra fiction or otherwise. 

Stay tuned for the publication of the finalist stories here on Somos en escrito. 

…and happy Halloween from Somos en escrito.

We at Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press are pleased to announce ​Postcards from a PostMexican by Alvaro Ramirez won bronze at the International Latino Book Awards. Specifically, The Victor Villaseñor Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book Award – English. 

Congratulations to Alvaro! If you would like to purchase Postcards from a PostMexcian, head to this link here at our Somos en ecrito store. Buying from us helps us publish more award winning books like Postcards from a PostMexican. 
  
To see this and other results of the International Latino Book Awards, click the link below.
https://www.latinobookawards.org/

Bay Area born, Kai Sugioka-Stone, is a second generation poet.
His mother Kimi Sugioka is currently the Poet Laureate of Alameda Island.
Kai is prolific already, and a veteran of many public readings. His evolving style touches on various themes, Buddhist concepts, interpersonal relationships, and the human condition.

Innovative Mexican-American poet Iván Argüelles is the author of many books, including: “That” Goddess, Madonna Septet, Comedy, Divine, The, Fiat Lux, Orphic Cantos, Tamazunchale, HOIL, and others. Born 1939 in Rochester MN, he has lived variously in Mexico DF, Chicago, New York, Macerata Italy, and Berkeley CA. A retired librarian, he was employed by the New York Public Library and The Library of the University of California at Berkeley. His collection, Looking for Mary Lou, received the 1989 William Carlos Williams Award from the poetry Society of America. Argüelles earned the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 2010. His recently published volume of poetry is entitled THE BLANK PAGE, from Sagging Meniscus Press.