News Release — January 2, 2011

Vida y Honor / Life & Honor

The Wittliff Collections and Texas State host the
Rolando Hinojosa / Miguel Méndez Literary Symposium

Friday, February 4, 2011
Three scholarly sessions, plus readings by Hinojosa and Méndez, Texas State Mariachi, and more

SAN MARCOS, Texas—On Friday, February 4, 2011, the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos will host the Rolando Hinojosa / Miguel Méndez Literary Symposium: Vida y Honor / Life and Honor. Admission 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 are online: http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/about/visit/directions.html. Events will run from 8:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

This daylong 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 United States as well as from Barcelona, Spain, 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 United States, Mexico, Europe, and Latin America.

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.