The Tejana- Another State of Mind Part 1

Just in time for summer reading, 30 Minutes features a panel from the 2017 Tucson Festival of Books from the Pima County Public Library/ Nuestras Raices Presentation Stage. Mari Herreras moderated this panel with authors Guadalupe Garcia McCall and Emmy Pérez entitled The Tejana: Another State of Mind Celebrating the Rio Grande Valley and the people that shaped it in poetry and prose.

Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s latest novel “Shame the Stars” is a reimagining of “Romeo and Juliet,” set during the time of the Mexican Revolution in South Texas. Her Young Adult novel “Under the Mesquite” won the Pura Belpré Award.

Emmy Perez has lived on the Texas Mexico border, from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley. She is the author of the poetry collection “With the River on Our Face” from The University of Arizona Press. In June 2017 the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley associate professor of creative writing and interim director of the Center for Mexican American Studies was been selected as a 2017 Literature Fellow with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Recorded on March 11, 2017 at the Tucson Festival of Books by Amanda Shauger and produced on June 11, 2017.