The second day of the XVIII Congreso Binacional Letras en el Estuario 2019, which consists of narrative, poetry and essay readings, is scheduled from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday in the SET-B Lecture Hall on the Texas Southmost College campus in Brownsville.
The three-day event is a collaboration between El Ateneo Literario José Arrese of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and the Texas Southmost College Fine Arts and Languages Department.
Its purpose is to expose literature to the general public, especially Spanish majors and minors in bilingual and Mexican-American studies to enrich their lives with well-known writers, said Juan Antonio Gonzalez, a professor of Spanish at TSC and an organizer of the event.
Gonzalez said Letras en el Estuario features several panels of writers who engage in poetry and short story writing.
“This year, we are adding a feature of having writers [in a] panel exclusively for … juvenile literature, poetry and short story,” Gonzalez said.
Topics to be discussed will be the latest poems and short stories that the panelists have written and published.
The event showcases literature in the environment and topics of this generation.
“It’s very diverse,” Gonzalez said. “They speak about all different topics and it’s an exposure to good writing by the best we can have. To me, it’s like a legacy. I’m trying to do what was done by our professors a few generations back when they would bring the leading authors as keynote speakers that would push us as students to present so that we could be more adopted to those things and better prepared for our own courses. What we offer to the public is the opportunity for them to listen to the new generation of writers and others.”
“Poesía-Narrativa” is the first panel and begins at 3:05 p.m. It caters to a younger audience and includes UTRGV’s Student Employment Coordinator Aragelia Salazar, Student Academic Assistant Jorge Sáenz, Department of Literatures and Cultural Studies Lecturer Elías David and Perlita Salazar of Harmony School of Innovation.
“Infantil-juvenil,” the second panel, starts at 4 p.m. and consists of UTRGV Interdisciplinary Program and Community Engagement Associate Professor Christopher Carmona; Ramiro Rodriguez, Conchita Hinojosa and Matty Ortiz of El Ateneo Literario José Arrese, and Diana Cortez Castro of TSC.
“Poesía-Narrativa” starts at 5 p.m. and features Department of Literatures and Cultural Studies Associate Professor Edna Ochoa and retired University of Texas at Brownsville Associate Professor Lidia Díaz, Gloria Rodriguez of the San Benito Independent School District, Octavio Quintanilla of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and author Rebeca Bowman.
The fourth panel, “Poesía,” at 6:15 p.m., includes Writing and Language Studies Professor Elvia Ardalani, Javier Villarreal of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Roberto de la Torre of Voces en la Frontera, author Federico Fernández and retired Professor Emeritus Santiago Daydi-Tolson of the University of Texas at San Antonio.
At 7 p.m. Jesús Rosales, an associate professor of Spanish at Arizona State University in Tempe, will deliver the keynote address, “Literatura Chicana, una literatura aguantadora.”
Rosales was raised in Santa Barbara, California, but is originally from Mexico. He is a scholar who focuses on Chicano literary history and a creative writer.
“In terms of creative writing, my main topic is to basically understand the presence of the identity of the Mexican-American in California,” Rosales said in a phone interview last Tuesday.
He said his inspiration to write is the experience of leaving Mexico as a young kid and coming to the United States, to a bicultural and bilingual place, and to try to incorporate both and understand oneself.
Rosales plans to present Chicano literature from the 19th century.
Asked what prompted him to participate in the event, he replied, “I have strong ties with South Texas. … I worked in Texas for 15 years and I was very close to the South Texas community. … I have a big interest in disseminating my knowledge to the people there.”
The three-day conference begins Thursday and ends Saturday. Other presentations will take place in Matamoros and Valle Hermoso.
