Rudolfo Anaya on Heritage, Inspiration and Bless Me Ultima

Hello ladies!

While we head into the second half of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15), I'd like to share another author interview with you.  I'm sure that many of you have read or heard of Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima (included in our Hispanic Heritage Month display). In this interview, Anaya talks about how his heritage influenced the writing of Bless Me Ultima and gives an explanation striking in similarity to the snippet below of Sandra Cisneros.






Happy Reading,
Miss Kenny

A quick followup:

Don't forget that it is still Banned Books Week!   Bless Me Ultima caused a great controversy when it was banned from Norwood, Colorado schools in 2005. The superintendent of schools confiscated two dozen copies of Anaya's novel and threw them into trash cans. Parents in the school district were then allowed to retrieve the books from the trash and destroy them. The superintendent later apologized for his actions and admitted that he had never even read Bless Me Ultima.

Sandra Cisneros on Inspiration

Hello ladies!


In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month  I wanted to feature an interview with Sandra Cisneros on what inspired her to write The House on Mango Street. The House on Mango Street gave Cisneros great success as a writer and is required reading in middle schools, high school, and universities across the country with over 2 million copies in print. We have copies of this book in the library (and featured in our Hispanic Heritage Month Display) in both Spanish and English.

Hispanic Heritage Month

Hello ladies!

September 15 - October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month

Curious about this celebration? Here are some quick facts:

• Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Mexico, Spain and the Spanish speaking countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean
• Hispanic Heritage Month has been celebrated since 1988
• September 15 marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month because it is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American Countries including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

To honor this celebration we have put up a display in the library which includes:

• Fiction by Hispanic Authors
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
• La Casa en Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
• The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
• The Floating Borderlands: twenty-five years of U.S. Hispanic Literature edited by Lauro Flores
• Herencia: the anthology of Hispanic literature in the United States edited by Nicolas Kanellos
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Yo! by Julia Alvarez
• Poetry by Hispanic Writers
• Antonio Machado: Selected Poems translated by Alan S. Trueblood
• Cool Salsa: bilingual poems on growing up Latino in the United States edited by Lori M. Carlson
• Daughters of the Fifth Sun: a collection of Latina fiction and poetry edited by Bryce Milligan
• Paper Dance: 55 Latino poets edited by Victor Hernandez Cruz
• Red Hot Salsa: bilingual poems on being young and Latino in the United States edited by Lori M. Carlson
• Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda edited by Ben Belitt
• Books about Hispanic Artists and Authors
• Contemporary American Success Stories: famous people of Hispanic heritage by Barbara J. Marvis
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Susan Muaddi Darraj
• Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment by Alfonso E. Perez and Eleanor A. Sayre
• Jose Marti by Jon Sterngrass
• Salvador Dali, 1904 - 1989

Please stop by and check out one of these great books!



Happy Reading,
Miss Kenny