The City of Edinburg is celebrating Hispanic roots at the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library through Oct. 15.
“We’ve been doing this for at least 15 years, if not longer,” said Letty Leija, director of Library and Cultural Arts. “It’s a whole month that we celebrate.”
Throughout the month, the city will host events such as Adult Craft Night: Guatemalan Worry Doll & Ojos de Dios, Poetry Night and lotería, among other events that are yet to be announced.
“We have a lot of things going on,” Leija said. “Our events are usually on Thursday.”
On Thursday, the library will host Adult Craft Night from 6 to 8 p.m.
“We are going to be making Guatemalan worry dolls and ojos de Dios,” she said. “The worry dolls are for people to stop worrying, because one puts all their worries in their worry dolls and they worry for you. Then, you can sleep well at night.”
Between laughs, Leija said this will be especially good for students because they tend to worry a lot.
At the same time Sept. 28, the library will host Poetry Night.
“We will have several poets that will be here and we usually have an open-mic night,” she said. “We usually have a good turnout.”
For this event, the library will have several poets reading their work to the audience and at the end of the night there will be an open-mic opportunity for everyone who wants to share their poems.
“We encourage everyone to come and, you know, just read their poetry and share that with the community,” Leija said.
On Oct. 5, the library will host Noche Bohemia from 7 to 9 p.m.
“We have music, traditionally songs in Spanish, we have trovadores that come and sing,” Leija said. “It is very romantic, but you don’t have to come as a couple. You can always come and enjoy.”
For Oct. 12, the city will host a book presentation by international award-winning poet and linguist, Rossy Evelin Lima, who will read from her new book, “Migrare Mutare” (Artepoética Press Inc., June 2017).
“Everything at the library is free and open to the public,” Leija said. “All of these flyers can be found on our Facebook page, Edinburg Arts.”
Leija recommends attendees arrive on time to receive refreshments and a seat.
“It can get a little packed,” she said. “Arrive early, get a seat and maybe they can get their refreshments, so they can be ready for the presentation.”
For more information about the events, call 383-6246.
