TAMIU Book Reading, Signing for Valle Sentíes July 8

Beloved Laredo artist, playwright and author Raquel Valle-Sentíes will celebrate the publication of her new book of poetry with a Book Reading and Signing Tuesday, July 8 from 6:30-8 p.m. at Texas A&M International University’s Student Center Theatre, 236.

The Ones Santa Anna Sold is a joint publication of Floricanto and Berkeley Presses. 

Hosted by the University’s Writing Center, the event will feature an introduction by Dr. Carmen Tafolla, poet laureate of San Antonio. It is free of charge and open to the public.  A limited number of books will be available for purchase.

Writing about Sentíes’ “The Ones Santa Ann Sold,” Dr. Tafolla has said:

“ ‘The Ones Santa Anna Sold’ is an enchanting immersion into the world of borderlands Laredo, where Valle-Sentíes captures the taste, the emotion, and the irony of a world between worlds, between nations, between cultures, and often, pineapple and chile, the scent of jasmine and desert nopal, the beauty and harshness of Laredo’s streets and skies, and a sense of the magic and the bittersweet reality of our contemporary world, where the good, the bad, and the ugly co-exist along both sides of a murky borderland river. A magical experience!”

Also writing about Senties’ latest offering, Lori Carlson Hijuelos, New York editor of Cool Salsa, Red Hot Salsa and Voices in Third Person, has said: “These poems are powerful, immediate, and raw. And they speak of universal pain and disappointment. But also they are about a world that is unique and not so well known, this city of Laredo. As a writer, I am admiring of your perception and your style. You are a wonderful poet.”

Valle-Sentíes’ poetry has been published in numerous anthologies in the U.S., Mexico, and India including Floricanto Sí, Penguin Putnam Inc.; Red Hot Salsa, Henry Holt & Co.; Voices in First Person, Atheneum Books; Ventana Abierta, & Cruzando Puentes, University of California; Puentes, Texas A&M University; Yapichantra, Bijoygarh, Kolkata, India; Cantar de Espejos, UNAM, México, D.F. and in Fuentes textbooks for Spanish students.

Her work has also appeared in the literary magazines The Americas Review, Arte Público Press; Saguaro, Tucson, AZ; and Weber Studies, Ogden, UT.

Valle-Sentíes’ first collection of poetry, “Soy Como Soy y Que,” was published in 1996 and won the international Premio de Literatura José Fuentes Mares in Letras Chicanas from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juarez, México.

For additional information, contact Kimberly Thomas, director of the TAMIU Writing Center at 956.326.2884 or email kthomas@tamiu.edu

University summer office hours are from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mon-Thurs and from 8 a.m. – 12 noon Fridays.

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