Writers Address the State of Latino Lit at the Wittliff

Texas State University’s Wittliff Collections will host four authors on Thursday, April 3, to discuss Latino literature: where it’s been, where it’s going, and the borders it does, can and will cross. The event is free and open to the public, and those who wish to attend are encouraged to RSVP to [email protected].

San Antonio’s inaugural and current poet laureate, Carmen Tafolla, will moderate a conversation between poet and police officer Sarah Cortez, filmmaker and author Severo Perez, and poet Tino Villanueva.

Cortez has written several books, including How to Undress a Cop and Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence. Perez is best known as the writer and director of …and the earth did not swallow him, which won several awards on the film-festival circuit; Perez recently donated his archives to the Wittliff Collections. Villanueva has authored seven books of poetry; one of them, Scene from the Movie GIANT, recently won the American Book Award.

For her part, Tafolla has published an array of award-winning work for children and adults. Her writing blends English and Spanish, academic jargon and street patois, into verse that’s distinctly Texan. (You can read Observer contributor Nick Swartsell’s piece on Tafolla and her fellow Texas poets laureate here.)

The conversation starts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3. A book-signing will follow.