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 “Carmen Baca’s work captures reality, mythology and the mystery of years gone by using vivid language and feeling. One can smell every tree, thunderclouds rolling by, fresh tortillas on the grill, or the balls of fire as brujas approach.” - Nicolasa Chávez, Deputy State Historian, Author and Curator When she opens an old photo album, Bella falls into a world where the gente of New Mexican folklore are on the verge of disappearing if she, her family, and community forget them: Don Cacahuate y Doña Cebolla, Coyote, duendes, Santa Sebastiana/Santa Muerte, the deadly Malhora, Llorona, and Coco, among others. Ancianos of Bella’s family line teach her what no one else has told her about her culture: the practices of the curandera, the forecasting of the weather through Cabañuelas by the farmer, the history of the Spanish dialect spoken in northern New Mexico and almost nowhere else, and more. But will she survive to pass on the tales? Bella is the youngest in her family, excluded from memories shared between her older siblings and parents, who only ask that she focus on her education. No one asks about Bella the person, Bella the silent observer, never chosen to play with her school peers or invited to parties. She avoids drawing attention to herself, minimizes her presence as much as possible. But could things be different one day? Her first chance to try might be in this alternate realm that resembles her home, but isn’t quite the way she’s ever experienced it.  CARMEN BACA taught high school and college English for thirty-six years before retiring in 2014. Her debut novel El Hermano, published in April 2017, was a 2018 finalist in the NM-AZ book awards program. Her third book, Cuentos del Cañón, received first place for short story fiction anthology in 2020 from the same program. To date, she has published five books and close to fifty short works in online literary magazines and anthologies. TO SCHEDULE INTERVIEWS, READINGS, AND FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact: somosenescrito@gmail.com ISBN: 9798361693610 Publisher: Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press (November 12, 2022) Language: English with Spanish mixed in Paperback: 233 pages Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press is a division of the Somos en escrito Literary Foundation, a non-profit tax exempt organization, which also operates Somos en escrito Magazine, an online literary publication (somosenescrito.com).
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 Bella Coming Mid-November.Somos en escrito is pleased to announce our upcoming publication Bella Collector of Cuentos by Carmen Baca. When she opens an old photo album, Bella falls into a world where the gente of New Mexican folklore are on the verge of disappearing if she, her family, and community forget them: Don Cacahuate y Doña Cebolla, Coyote, duendes, Santa Sebastiana/Santa Muerte, the deadly Malhora, Llorona, and Coco, among others. Ancianos of Bella’s family line teach her what no one else has told her about her culture: the practices of the curandera, the forecasting of the weather through Cabañuelas by the farmer, the history of the Spanish dialect spoken in northern New Mexico and almost nowhere else, and more. But will she survive to pass on the tales? Bella is the youngest in her family, excluded from memories shared between her older siblings and parents, who only ask that she focus on her education. No one asks about Bella the person, Bella the silent observer, never chosen to play with her school peers or invited to parties. She avoids drawing attention to herself, using her long, dark hair as a shield of protection. But could things be different one day? Her first chance to try might be in this alternate realm that resembles her home, but isn’t quite the way she’s ever experienced it. Here is what people are saying about Bella: “Carmen Baca’s work captures reality, mythology and the mystery of years gone by using vivid language and feeling. One can smell every tree, thunderclouds rolling by, fresh tortillas on the grill, or the balls of fire as brujas approach.” Nicolasa Chávez, Deputy State Historian, Author and Curator “An AWESOME read, a New Mexico fantasy in which readers will follow Bella, this book’s heroine, as she wanders the magical alternative world of the Dead and Forgotten. There she meets ancestors and other spirits of animals—both domestic and wild—witches, ghosts, birds, monsters, a curandera, her aunt and her grandfather. Bella Collector of Cuentos: entertaining, knowledgeable, and awesome.” Lani Kyea, NM artist  Carmen Baca taught high school and college English for thirty-six years before retiring in 2014. Her debut novel El Hermano, published in April 2017, was a 2018 finalist in the NM-AZ book awards program. Her third book, Cuentos del Cañón, received first place for short story fiction anthology in 2020 from the same program. To date, she has published five books and close to fifty short works in online literary magazines and anthologies. Her goal to make her mark on New Mexico literature comes from her desire to pass on elements of her Hispano culture which have disappeared almost entirely since she was a child. She believes we should embrace our culture, cherish our roots, and remember our elders to prevent losing important facets of our identities as Hispano people.
 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/
Somos en escrito is pleased to announce its first publication of a Chicano Fantasy/Science-Fiction book, Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub by R. Ch. Garcia. Michael Sedano of La Bloga says "There’s lots of reasons to be eager, I’ll focus on three: Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub is a rare Chicanocentric fantasy novel. Death Song does some teaching. Chicxulub brings lots of fun." Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub by R. Ch. Garcia is a New Adult book As Sentinel of a pre-Hispanic legacy, Tomás Chaneco has trained warriors to defeat the mysterious, eons-old creature, La Muerte Blanca. But never has the chosen one been a too-young americano. To complete his duties, the shaman-storyteller Tomás must challenge and upset Miguel's entire worldview, with methods as powerful as Otherworld magic, and guide the young man in transforming himself into a fit Slayer. Reminiscent of Zorba and The Teachings of Don Juan, more than just "ethnic fiction" aimed at that audience, nor simply genre fantasy, Death Song of the Dragón Chicxulub owes its birth to paths open by Rudy Anaya and will give readers a whirlwind of a "dragon fantasy." See the book on our Somos en escrito Foundation Press page and purchase it online here. (Or click on the dragon below).  Somos en escrito Foundation Press launches its third book, Postcards from a PostMexican by Álvaro Ramírez A Transformed Mexico Emerges in Provocative Collection of Essays by One of Its Transnational SonsPostcards from a PostMexican peels away the façade of the nationalist, folkloric Old Mexico to reveal a country which each day looks more and more like its salsa-loving, border-sharing wall-building neighbor—the U.S. Author Álvaro Ramírez, the self-defined PostMexican in the title, chronicles the amazing cultural transformation that is taking place in a transnational geographical area that encompasses Mexico and the United States. Ramírez shows that the world as we knew it is disappearing or morphing into another at a dizzying pace in the new millennium, thanks to massive migrations, NAFTA, the Internet, and social media. These socio-economic and technological forces are deluding the unique cultural identities that differentiated us neatly into nations. What is emerging is a hybrid world where Americans set to a large degree the trends, the cultural models that define the inhabitants of both countries. Interestingly, most people are unaware of the changes Mexicans are going through in the postMexican condition until they have a chance to visit either country. American tourists (especially Mexican Americans) are shocked and put off by the heavy presence of American culture (music, movies, sports, clothes, fast food) in Mexico; Mexicans are surprised at the amount of their national culture alive and doing well in the United States (food, mariachis, ballet folklórico, Cinco de Mayo, Día de los Muertos). After witnessing and studying these phenomena for many years, presenting papers at conferences, and teaching many courses on the subject, Ramírez decided to start a blog where he could rant and rave on these matters in a non-academic style, free of jargon, accessible to all readers. In Postcards from a PostMexican, he offers short, lucid analyses of the transnational world in which he lives. The twilight of Mexican nationalism, the relation of Mexico and its migrants, the rise of the NAFTA Generation, Mexican racism and xenophobia, the populism of Donald Trump and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, are but a few of the issues that Ramírez addresses with flair and a good dose of humor, which leaves the reader with an understanding that Mexicanness is not what it used to be. See Postcards from a PostMexican in our Somos en escrito Foundation Press page, get it at Amazon, and follow @PostMexican happenings on its Facebook.  Álvaro Ramírez, born in Michoacán, México, of Purépecha origin, migrated with his family to Ohio as an adolescent. A Professor of Literature at various California schools, he has been a Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Saint Mary’s College (Moraga) since 1993, where he specializes in Spanish Golden Age and Latin American literature, Mexican Film, and Chicano Cultural Studies. His first book, a collection of short stories in Spanish, Los norteados, was a finalist in the 2017 International Latino Book Awards competition.
Congratulations to Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press ILBA finalists Armando A. Arias and Ernesto Todd Mireles!Somos en escrito is pleased that the first two books from our press are ILBA finalists! Theorizing César Chávez is a finalist in the category "Victor Villaseñor Latino Focused Nonfiction Book – English" and Insurgent Aztlán is a finalist in the category "Best Political/Current Affairs Book – English." Congratulations to other finalists who have appeared in Somos en escrito, Alvaro Huerta, Eduardo Cabrera, Sergio Troncoso, and Juan Alvarado Valdivia. See more at the International Latino Book Awards site. Click here for the full list of finalists.  Insurgent Aztlán The Liberating Power of Cultural Resistance reconstructs the relationship between social political insurgent theory and Xicano literature, film and myth. Based on decades of organizing experience and scholarly review of the writings of recognized observers and leaders of the process of national liberation movements, author Ernesto Todd Mireles shares a remarkable work of scholarship that incorporates not only the essence of earlier resistance writing, but provides a new paradigm of liberation guidelines for the particular situation of Mexican Americans. Learn more and get a copy here.  Theorizing César Chávez: New Ways of Knowing STEM presents a new paradigm for examining and analyzing science through an understanding of César Chávez’s values and beliefs, theorizing the application of his innovative thinking to STEM, particularly to address its state in U.S. education today. Author Armando A. Arias ("Dr. Sonny Boy") forges connections between the arts, humanities, social and behavioral and hard sciences, using science friction, including his own visionary travails, to create a presence in the absence of César Chávez. Learn more and get a copy here. Congratulations to ILBA finalists who have appeared in Somos en escrito!Best Latino Focused Fiction Book – English or Bilingual Cabañuelas: A novel, Norma Elia Cantú; University of New Mexico Press; Mexico/Xicana; San Antonio, TX Click here to read an excerpt of Cabañuelas. Best Play or Collection of Plays Teatro de inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos, Eduardo Cabrera; Argentina; Chicago Click here to read an excerpt of another book by Eduardo Carbrera. Best Collection of Short Stories – English or Bilingual A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son, Sergio Troncoso; Cinco Puntos Press; U.S. Mexican American; New York Ballad of a Slopsucker: Stories, Juan Alvarado Valdivia; University of New Mexico Press; Mexico/Peruano; San Francisco Click here to read an excerpt of Ballad of a Slopsucker. Best Political/Current Affairs Book – English Defending Latina/o Immigrant Communities, Alvaro Huerta, Hamilton Books; Lanham Click here to read an excerpt of Defending Latina/o Immigrant Communities. |
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