WHAT TEXANS ARE READING

LONE STAR LISTENS interviews   >> archive

Author interviews by Kay Ellington

7.1.2018  Author and Dallas Morning News correspondent Alfredo Corchado on friends, family, and freedom — on both sides of the border

Meet prize-winning journalist and immigration expert Alfredo CorchadoHis latest book, Homelands, is the sweeping story of the great Mexican migration from the late 1980s to today.

       It’s told from the perspective of four friends who first meet in a Mexican restaurant in Philadelphia in 1987. One was a radical activist, another a restaurant/tequila entrepreneur, the third a lawyer/politician, and the fourth, Alfredo, a hungry young reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Over the course of thirty years, the four friends continued to meet, coming together to share stories of the turning points in their lives-the death of parents, the births of children, professional milestones, stories from their families north and south of the border.

       His story has never been timelier, and we appreciated the chance to converse with him via email earlier this week.

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: Where were born, Alfredo, and where did you grow up and how would you describe those days?

ALFREDO CORCHADO:  I was born in a small town, San Luis de Cordero, Durango. My first memories are of my tiny hometown, walking dirt and cobblestone streets as though they belonged to me and my younger brother, Juan. We walked everywhere and everyday to pick up food from our grandmother’s house. We waved at our neighbors and we were known as Herlinda’s sons.

Your family brought you to the U.S. when you were six years old. What were those times like?

We left San Luis de Cordero when I was five years old and spent nearly a year in Ciudad Juarez as we waited for our green cards to cross the border legally and be reunited with our father, who worked in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley. I cried a lot. I didn’t want to leave Mexico, and the idea of going to another country was like heading for another planet. I missed my hometown. Ciudad Juarez seemed monstrous to us, but my mother was committed to raising as us as a family, together with my father.

Your family eventually bought a restaurant in El Paso, and now you make El Paso your home at least part of the year. Do you consider El Paso to be your hometown, and how would you describe that city?

I work as a Mexico Border correspondent for the Dallas Morning News, so I crisscross the border a lot. I do consider El Paso my hometown because it’s the only place where I don’t feel like I have to choose between one side or the other. I often say that the border, El Paso, is the epicenter of my homelands. It is our Ellis Island in the Southwest, a place of new opportunities. It’s a welcoming, tolerant and generous city with great history with important lessons during thes4 difficult, divisive, nativist times.

When you chose a career path, you became a journalist. Did you always enjoy writing and storytelling? What drew you to this profession?

I actually wanted to be a songwriter, but failed miserably. I was intrigued by the idea of journalism after a reporter asked me when it was like to work in the fields, underage, without clean drinking water, enough toilets. The idea that someone wanted to tell my story was  powerful, so much that I decided on journalism and once I got the taste it felt like an incurable disease. It still does.   >>READ MORE

Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events
Bookish Texas event highlights  7.1.2018>> GO this weekMichelle Newby, Contributing Editor

SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK

• 8th Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial Exhibition & Competition for American Bookbinding, Dallas, June 8-July 13
• 33rd Texas Shakespeare Festival, Kilgore, June 28-July 29

HOUSTON  Mon., July 2  Brazos Bookstore, Books Artists Love: Gael Stack, David McGee, and Dana Frankfort, 7PM

AUSTIN  Tues., July 3 The North Door, Owen Egerton’s One Page Salon, 7:30PM

SAN ANTONIO Tues., July 3  The Mix, PuroSlam Poetry Early Bird Special, 8:30PM

AUSTIN  Wed., July 4  Austin Books & Comics, Cosmic Ghost Rider and Death of the Inhumans release party with Donny Cates, 7PM

HOUSTON  Wed., July 4  Avant Garden, Write About Now Youth Poetry Slam, 7:30PM

WESLACO  Thurs., July 5 The Storybook Garden, Award-winning author David Bowles will read from his latest book, FEATHERED SERPENT, DARK HEART OF SKY, 6:30PM

AUSTIN  Fri., July 6  BookPeople, HENRY D. TERRELL speaking & signing Desert Discord: Marijuana, Music, and Murder in a West Texas Town, 7PM

HOUSTON  Fri., July 6  Inprint House, First Friday Reading Series: 43rd Anniversary featuring Houston Poet Laureate Deborah DEEP Mouton, 8:30PM

DALLAS  Sat., July 7 Dallas Public Library, author Tui Snider presents Exploration of the Unexplained: Haunted Hotspots of Dallas, 3PM

EL PASO  Sat., July 7 Memorial Park Public Library, Tumblewords Project workshop: “Portrait Session” with Victor Hernández, 12:45PM

HOUSTON  Sat., July 7 Brazos Bookstore, Weaving the Terrain: 100 Word Southwestern Poems, 7PM

DALLAS  Sun., July 8   The Wild Detectives, Kids In The Cliff story time: Stephanie Parsley Ledyard reading of her debut picture book, Pie Is For Sharing, 11AM

News Briefs 7.1.18

New Austin Central Library among five best libraries in the world

The Austin Central Library, opened in 2017 at a new site overlooking Lady Bird Lake along West César Chávez Drive, has been named one of five finalists throughout the world for Public Library of the Year by the International Federation of Library Associations.

The other finalists are libraries from Brazil, Netherlands, Norway and Singapore. According to the City of Austin, the award is given every year to a new library. The award takes into account local culture, sustainability, digital development and the wishes and needs of users.  >>READ MORE

The Austin Public Library’s rooftop garden/reading area boasts some of the best and most relaxing views of the capital city.

Poetry Society of Texas 2018 annual meeting in Waco/Woodway July 12–14

The Poetry Society of Texas convenes their Annual Summer Conference in a different area of the state each July. This year’s 49th Annual Summer Conference will meet Thursday–Saturday, July 12–14, 2018.

The theme will be Poetry: A Bridge to the World. The conference venue will be the Marriott SpringHill Suites-Waco/Woodway, 200 Colonnade Parkway, Waco, TX 76712.

To view and download full event details, and to register, visit https://poetrysocietyoftexas.org/2018/03/14/2018-summer-conference-information.>>READ MORE

Texas Book Festival reveals the first 15 authors for 2018 festival weekend lineup

Annual festival to showcase acclaimed authors Tayari Jones, Erin Entrada Kelly, Sandra Cisneros, David Grann, and Leslie Jamison, among others

AUSTIN — The Texas Book Festival is excited to announce fifteen authors who will appear at the 2018 Texas Book Festival Weekend October 27–28, including 2018 Newbery medalist Erin Entrada Kelly, bestselling author of an Oprah Book Club pick Tayari Jones, and poet and multifaceted author Sandra Cisneros.

“We are honored to welcome these fifteen exceptional authors to this year’s Texas Book Festival,” says Julie Wernersbach, festival literary director. “Their insightful and engaging work, from stories of Arctic adventure and 1900s Galveston to absorbing fiction and riveting memoir, inspires our imaginations and encourages us to connect with the world both on and off the page. We look forward to their memorable conversations at the Festival.” >>READ MORE

 ——­——— A D V E R T I S E M E N T —————

Lone Star Listens compilation available summer 2018, for readers, fans, and writers everywhere

The present generation of Texas authors is the most diverse ever in gender, age, and ethnicity, and in subject matter as well.

Week in, week out, Lone Star Literary has interviewed a range of Texas-related authors with a cross-section of genre and geography. To capture this era in Texas letters, we’re pleased to bring you

Lone Star Listens:

Texas Authors on Writing and Publishing

edited by Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon; introduction by Clay Reynolds

Available in trade paper, library hardcover, and ebook Summer 2018

360 pages, with b/w illustrations and index

Featuring novelists, poets, memoirists, editors, and publishers, including:

Rachel  Caine • Chris  Cander • Katherine  Center • Chad S. Conine • Sarah  Cortez • Elizabeth  Crook • Nan  Cuba • Carol  Dawson • Patrick  Dearen • Jim Donovan • Mac Engel • Sanderia  Faye • Carlos Nicolás Flores • Ben Fountain • Jeff  Guinn • Stephen  Harrigan • Cliff  Hudder • Stephen Graham Jones • Kathleen Kent • Joe R. Lansdale • Melissa Lenhardt • Attica Locke • Nikki  Loftin • Thomas  McNeely • Leila  Meacham • John  Pipkin • Joyce Gibson Roach • Antonio  Ruiz-Camacho • Lisa  Sandlin • Donna  Snyder • Mary Helen Specht • Jodi  Thomas • Amanda Eyre Ward • Ann  Weisgarber • Donald Mace Williams

As a collection of insights into the writing and publishing life, the book will be useful in creative writing classes (not just in Texas alone) and other teaching settings, as well as for solo reading and study—and a great Texas reference volume.

• Examination and review copies will be available fall 2017 in watermarked pdf format.