January 24th, 2011
Texas State to host Hinojosa, Mendez literary symposium

SUBMITTED REPORT

The Wittliff Collections at Texas State will host the Rolando Hinojosa / Miguel Méndez Literary Symposium: Vida y Honor / Life and Honor on Friday, Feb. 4.

The Cortez Family at the Capitol Texas Farm Workers’ Muleshoe to Austin march for farmworker rights. The photo was taken on March 10, 1979 by photographer Alan Pogue. COURTESY PHOTO

This day-long symposium will feature two of the most influential, pioneering Mexican American authors of the 20th and 21st centuries: Rolando Hinojosa from the University of Texas at Austin and Miguel Méndez from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Hinojosa and Méndez together are authors of dozens of novels, short stories, poems, and essays, and between them they have received some of the most prestigious national and international literary awards ever given to Mexican American authors. Their works have been published abroad and translated into English and Spanish, as well as other European languages.

The day’s events include three sessions, during which nearly a dozen scholars from around the U.S. as well as from Barcelona and Spain. Scholars will present papers on and will pay homage to the literary works and influence that Hinojosa and Méndez have had on Chicana/o literature as well as on the literatures of the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Latin America.

Admission to the event is free and open to the public. The Wittliff Collections are located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University in San Marcos. Directions for the symposium can also be found online through the Wittliff Collections’ web site.

The symposium begins at 8:15 a.m. with coffee and pan dulce. At 8:45, Daniel Guerrero, mayor of San Marcos, and Dr. Michael Hennessy, chair of Texas State’s Department of English, will welcome speakers and participants, then Texas State professors Dr. Sergio Martínez and Dr. Jaime Armin Mejía will offer opening remarks.

The three sessions will be held at 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 1:30 p.m. Presenting scholars are: Dr. Javier Villarreal, A&M University, Corpus Christi; Dr. Manuel Martín Rodríguez, University of California, Merced; Dr. Klaus Zilles, Ramón Llull University, Barcelona, Spain; Dr. Antonio Arreguín-Bermúdez, California State University, Chico; Dr. Juan Armando Rojas Joo, Ohio Wesleyan University; Roberto Mendoza, University of Arizona; Dr. María Herrera-Sobek and Dr. Francisco Lomelí, University of California, Santa Barbara; Yazmín Lazcano-Pry, Arizona State University, Tempe; and Chad Hammett, Texas State University, San Marcos.

At 3:15 p.m., Dr. Arturo Madrid of Trinity University will introduce Hinojosa and Méndez who will read from their work then take questions from the audience. A reception and book signing with the two authors will follow, accompanied by the multi award-winning Texas State Mariachi ensemble. Select books by the authors will be for sale by the University Bookstore.

Texas State co-sponsors of the symposium are the Wittliff Collections, the Office of Equity and Access, the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Applied Arts, and Education, the Departments of English and Modern Languages, the School of Music, the Rho Chapter of Omega Delta Phi Fraternity, Inc., and the Hispanic Policy Network.

For information, contact Wittliff Collections Curator Steve Davis at sdavis@txstate.edu or 512-245-2313.