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This Year’s
Keynote Speakers Include: Sandra
Cisneros Ramón
Saldívar José David
Saldívar Sonia
Saldívar Hull Nuestra
Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say Voices
Breaking Boundaries Sandra
Cisneros (WLA’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Literature Recipient,
2003) Internationally acclaimed for her poetry
and fiction, Sandra Cisneros has been the recipient of numerous
awards, including the Lannan Literary Award and the American Book Award, and
of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur
Foundation. Cisneros is the author of two books of poetry (My Wicked
Wicked Ways and Loose Woman), two collections of short stories (The
House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek), and a children's
book (Hairs/Pelitos). 2002 saw the publication of Cisneros' first
novel, Caramelo. Ramón
Saldívar (WLA’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Literary Criticism
Recipient, 2003) Ramón Saldívar is a professor in the English Department at Stanford University where he acted as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences from 1994-99. He has served on the Board of Governors of the University of California Humanities Research Institute, on the Editorial Board of American Literature, and on the national council of the American Studies Association. Fellowships that he has received include a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a National Council on Chicanos in Higher Education grant, and a Dallas TACA Centennial Teaching Fellowship. He has published two books: Figural Language in the Novel: The Flowers of Speech from Cervantes to Joyce and Chicano Narrative: The Dialectics of Difference. His current work in progress is Americo Paredes and the Transnational Imaginary. José
David Saldívar (WLA’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Literary Criticism
Recipient, 2003) José David Saldívar is the chair of the Ethnic Studies program at
the University of California's Berkeley campus. He is currently on the
Editorial Boards of the scholarly journals ALH and Nepantla. He is the
recipient of numerous fellowships, including a University of California
President's Research Fellowship in the Humanities, a William Rice Kimball
Fellowship (Stanford Humanities Center), and an American Council of Learned
Societies Fellowship for Study in Modern Society and Values. His books
include The Dialectics of Our America: Genealogy, Cultural Critique, and
Literary History, and Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural
Studies. Presently, he is
working on a book on The War of 1898 and US Empire. The book explores the
histories and narratives of the cultures of US imperialism. Additionally, it
raises methodological questions about the paradigms of American studies, the
formation of Latinamericanism, and cross-genealogical subaltern studies
(South Asian and Latin American), as well as theoretical questions about
militarism, nationhood, aesthetics, postcolonialism, and divergent modernities. Sonia
Saldívar Hull (WLA’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Literary Criticism
Recipient, 2003) Sonia Saldívar-Hull has recently returned to Texas from UCLA and is
now an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of
Texas, San Antonio. She has been the recipient of a Ford Foundation Minority
Postdoctoral Fellowship and her publications include Feminism on the
Border: Chicana Politics and Literature and numerous articles on Chicana
literature, feminism, and the cultural intersections of borderland studies.
She is co-editor of Duke University's series Latin American Otherwise:
Languages, Empires, Nations; associate editor of Signs: Journal of Women
in Culture and Society; a member of the editorial board of the journal Mujeres
Activas en Letras y Cambio Social; and a member of the advisory committee
for "American Literary Traditions: An Integrated Series in American
Literature" (Oregon Public Broadcasting and American Studies
Association). Her works in progress
include Between My Art and Activism: Chicana Fronterista Cultural
Terrains and Memorias Fronterizas: Memoirs of a Chicana Feminist. Nuestra
Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers
Having Their Say is an artistic
and cultural, not for profit organization, whose goals are in the area of
literature, literacy, and social service to the Latino community and thus the
Houston community at large. Palabra is now housed at Talento Bilingue de
Houston, a full-fledged theatre. Showcases feature nationally published
Latino and latina writers alongside Nuestro Discoveries, talent from the
community cultivated through Nuestra Palabra classes, seminars, and readings.
Performers consist of poets, essayists, playwrights, fiction writers, and
composers. However, writing/literature is always the foundation for the
event. Performances are in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. These showcases
are more than simply readings. Each forum evolves from or leads to other ways
to educate and inspire the community, and at the same time promote Latino
literature and Latino authors. To learn more about Nuestra Palabra, please
visit their website at www.nuestrapalabra.org. Voices
Breaking Boundaries The mission of Voices Breaking Boundaries
(VBB) is to cross borders, sustain dialogue, and incite cultural change
through living art. Voices Breaking Boundaries is a
non-profit arts organization that provides a forum for spoken word, visual
arts, film, dance, music and multi-media for artists and individuals from a
variety of perspectives, backgrounds and countries. The performance series is
funded in part by grants from the City of Houston and the Texas Commission on
the Arts through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. VBB
is hosted by founding member and artistic director, Sehba Sarwar, along with
a rich variety of VBB voices. To learn more about this organization,
please visit their website at www.voicesbreakingboundaries.org. |