Librotraficante event - March 15 at 7 pm - NHCC Albuquerque

Librotraficante Press Conference and Reading, March 15, 7pm, National Hispanic Cultural Center

by West End Press on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 1:58pm ·

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amanda Sutton
Albuquerque Cultural Conference
505-400-3898
amanda@westendpress.org

ALBUQUERQUE—On March 15, a caravan of self-proclaimed “book smugglers,” calling themselves “Librotraficante,” stops in Albuquerque en route to Tucson, in protest of the recent ban on Mexican-American literature by the Tucson Unified School District.

Houston writers Tony Diaz and Liana Lopez, hosts of the radio show “Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say,” have teamed up with other concerned writers to plan the caravan route, which stops in Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque before staging events in Tucson over St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

In each city on the route, Librotraficante is working with local organizers to set up “underground libraries,” which will house copies of each banned book on the TUSD Mexican-American Studies reading list. In Albuquerque, Los Jardines Institute will house the underground library. Attendees to the March 15 event at the National Hispanic Cultural Center are encouraged to bring books to donate or to buy books onsite to be donated.

The Librotraficante caravan includes Dagoberto Gilb, Jimmy Santiago Baca, and a host of local writers who will join in for a press conference and reading 7pm, March 15, at the NHCC. Media are invited to attend both the press conference and the reading. Librotraficante has already been featured on Democracy Now!, New York Daily News, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, and dozens of other regional newspapers and radio shows.

Readers for the March 15 NHCC event are: Dagoberto Gilb, Tony Diaz, Zelene Suchilt, Gabriel Carmona, Liana Lopez, Bryan Parras, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Levi Romero, Margaret Randall, Andrea Serrano, Mary Oishi, Tanaya Winder, Hakim Bellamy, Richard Vargas, Gary Brower, Tony Mares, Cathy Arellano, and Bill Nevins.

NOTE FOR MEDIA: Albuquerque media are invited to join in the press conference at the NHCC, 1701 4th Street. Please convene by 6:30 in the NHCC library. For details, contact Amanda Sutton via phone or email: 505-400-3898 or amanda@westendpress.org.

more info: www.librotraficante.com