2019 Book of the Year Selection Announced
Cuesta College’s 2019 Book of the Year program will bring renowned Mexican-American Chicana scholar, novelist, and poet Ana Castillo to Cuesta College in March of 2019, to discuss her memoir Black Dove: Mama, Mi’jo and Me. The memoir includes a collection of essays that offer an intimate look at pivotal experiences in Castillo’s life across three generations: the relationship between Castillo and her immigrant mother, Castillo’s own challenges as a single mother to her son, and her childhood memories of growing up in the Mexican barrios of Chicago.
Castillo will appear for a presentation and book-signing event on March 5, 2019, at the Cuesta College Harold J. Miossi Cultural and Performing Arts Center (CPAC). Tickets will go on sale on February 1, 2019 at tickets.cuesta.edu. In addition, Castillo will lead a classroom discussion with Cuesta College’s North County Campus students in Paso Robles.
“Leading up to the March event, cultural activities will take place throughout the county,” said Book of the Year Program Coordinator Carina Love. “The events will touch on the book’s themes of family, bi-culturalism, bi-sexualism, careers in writing, and social injustice. We will be releasing details on all program events in the coming months.”
About author Ana Castillo: Born in Chicago, Castillo is a novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Castillo received her MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago, after teaching ethnic studies at Santa Rosa Junior College. Considered one of the leading voices in Chicana experience, Castillo is known for her experimental style as a Latina novelist. Castillo has written more than 15 books and numerous articles and is widely regarded as a key thinker and a pioneer in the field of Chicana literature. Her novel Sapogonia was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has attained numerous awards, including an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for her first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters, a Carl Sandburg Award, a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in fiction and poetry and in 1998 Sor Juana Achievement Award by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago.
The Book of the Year Program is a project of Cuesta College’s Academic Senate in partnership with San Luis Obispo County Public Library SLO Reads. For more information, please visit https://www.cuesta.edu/library/book.html, follow the Book of the Year program on Facebook and Twitter or contact Carina Love at clove@cuesta.edu.
