Thursday, March 11, 2010
Community read to focus on stories by Mexican writers
Sun, Stone, and Shadow, the book selected for the Evansville read, was chosen to help bring more awareness to the Mexican cultural heritage. The book, an anthology of great Mexican short stories, will be in circulation for people to read and to pass along to other readers. The books are free. Close to 600 books will be in circulation some of the books will be available in Spanish. The stories in the book represent a sample of the best Mexican fiction published in the first half of the 20th century, featuring some of the most important writers of Hispanic-American literature. The stories include mystery, romance, fantasy, and drama. Book discussions, an art exhibit, children's programs, and other cultural events including a cooking lesson are being planned to coincide with the six-week reading program. The opening reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 21 at the Evansville Public Library with free copies of the book and food available. The culminating event will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5 when Dr. Jorge Chapa, director of the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will give a presentation at Central Library in Evansville. University of Southern Indiana and community sponsors, including HOLA (Hospitality and Outreach for Latin Americans), the Evansville Public Library, Ivy Tech Community College, WNIN, and more, have received a $12,000 grant from NEA for the program. The co-directors of the Evansville program are Dr. Dominic Micer, USI instructor in English, and Dr. Anne Statham, USI professor of sociology and director of Service Learning. Micer said, “We had an opportunity to bring awareness to Mexican cultural heritage before any negative animus had been created between the fledgling immigrant populations from Latin America and the Southwestern Indiana community. I'm hopeful we can learn about and understand our differences better, so that we can use our likenesses as a platform to build on. Readers will enjoy the reading and learn about our neighbors to the south and the Latino/a neighbors that live among us here." Background information and a calendar of events are available online at www.usi.edu/bigread. |
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