Nuestras Raíces, the Pima County Public Library program that celebrates Mexican-American culture, is joining the Tucson Festival of Books this year.
Historically, the library has held a single festival for Nuestras Raíces (Our Roots) every year in March, says Adriana Rendon, a librarian and the co-chair for Nuestras Raíces.
This year, the library joined forces with other groups to showcase different aspects of Mexican-American culture, such as music, language and arts during the UA-based Tucson Festival of Books, March 13 and 14.
The goal for combining the program with the Festival of Books was to reach a larger audience, Rendon says, as well as to make the book festival more accessible to the Mexican-American community.
“The festival had great success last year,” Rendon says. “Over 50,000 people attended. So it’s good to share what we are working on and make a partnership.”
Nuestras Raíces is usually a single, spring event, but this year there will be several events throughout the year. The Festival of Books, however, will provide the cornerstone for the program, Rendon says.
The library participated in the festival last year, she says, and featured a conversation with author Luis Alberto Urrea, who’s known for writing “The Devil’s Highway,” and other books. More than 400 people attended.
“There was a strong interest for people to see and meet him,” she says. “Some waited hours for their chance to speak to him afterward.”
This year, festival-goers can hear from Urrea again and ask all their “burning questions” about his life in a question-and-answer session, she says.
People can also enjoy a theatrical performance by students and alumni from Tucson High School’s Mexican-American Studies program.
Tierra Birthmarks Teatro will feature a dozen or so monologues written and performed by students, says Curtis Acosta, the Tucson High teacher who heads the group.
Students developed the performance from researching and interviewing people in the community, he says. They will perform monologues about a deaf educator, a Mexican immigrant and a Muslim woman, among others. A few monologues will be in Spanish but most are in English.
The program matters because it’s done “authentically,” Acosta says, and because the students and the community worked hard to bring the characters to life in the monologues.
Another festival event is a youth Mariachi contest. “Last year it was structured like American Idol,” Rendon says. “It was very exciting for families and the community to watch the young talent.”
There will also be an authors’ panel to discuss Mexican-American cultural identity with Gustavo Arellano, who writes the controversial and syndicated column “Ask a Mexican,” and Rose Castillo Guilbault, who wrote the autobiographical “Farmworker’s Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America.”
Rendon says the main goal of Nuestras Raíces events at the book festival is not only to reach the Mexican-American community, but to also build community by celebrating the culture’s rich artistic history with all Tucsonans.
Guilbault says she hopes to see young people at the festival who want to learn more about their culture, as well as writers who want to learn more about their craft.
She also pointed out that people often have the same “basic fundamentality” regardless of nationality or ethnicity, making it easier to relate to others.
“There’s universality in all our stories,” Guilbault says.
“Universality helps society,” she says.
“It helps the world, because we can see everyone and their similarities and say, ‘Hey, we’re not so different.”
Tucson Festival of Books
When: Saturday and Sunday, March 13-14. Events held throughout each day.
Where: University of Arizona campus.
Cost: Admission and parking is free.
For more information visit: http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/
Some Nuestras Raíces Events
Saturday
-Gil Sperry presents Mariachi 101, 10 a.m.
-Stell Pope Duarte presents Mexican Folktales, 1 p.m.
-Tierra Birthmarks Teatro by Curtis Acosta's Mexican-American Studies students, 2:30 p.m. (also presented on Sunday)
-Panel discussion on Mexican-American Cultural Identity, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday
-Bilingual Children's Program, 10 a.m.
-Q & A with Luis Alberto Urrea, 11:30 a.m.
-Bilingual Open Poetry Slam, 1 p.m.
-HablARTE "Talking Through Art" Retablo Workshop, 2 p.m.
For more event information, or to learn more about Nuestras Raíces, visit: http://www.library.pima.gov/about/news/?id=2452
