Celebrated spoken word artist Paul S. Flores will be in conversation at Bookworks on Nov. 29

AT BOOKWORKS

Celebrated San Francisco spoken word artist Paul S. Flores will be in conversation with Albuquerque author/poet/filmmaker Jimmy Santiago Baca at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, at Bookworks. They will chat about Flores’ long-awaited debut collection “WE STILL BE: Poems and Performances.” The collection addresses a broad range of cultural issues, among them mixed Latino identity, masculinity, machismo, systemic racism and fatherhood.

El Martillo Press published the collection. In its press release on the book, the press described Flores as “one of the most influential Latino artists in the country and a nationally respected arts educator.”

The collection has received the widest praise. For one, Juan Felipe Herrera, a former U.S. Poet Laureate, says Flores “unlocks the hot key, the people’s voice and the Spanglish ritmo/Rhythm on how to write our story. He swags us into our soul and soulfulness our life-chapters and our plight in the USA.”

Flores grew up in Chula Vista, California, near the Mexican border. The body of his work “touches on the immigrant story in all its complexities: from the violent — forced migration, gang life, war, incarceration and separated families — to zooming in on intergenerational relationships and the struggle of preserving important cultural values,” the press release further states.

Flores teaches theater and spoken word at the University of San Francisco. He is also a teaching artist in creative writing with the Prison Arts Project in Vacaville, California, and at San Quentin State Prison.

Bookworks is located at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW.

Celebrated spoken word artist Paul S. Flores will be in conversation at Bookworks on Nov. 29

AT BOOKS ON THE BOSQUE

In a nod to National Novel Writing Month, a local writer’s group — and members of the public — will read from and discuss their novels-in-progress at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, at Books on the Bosque. The presentation will allow writers five-to-10 minutes to read from their work and a period for discussions.

Anyone may sign up to participate in the presentation.

National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short, a U.S.-based nonprofit that promotes creative writing. Its flagship program is the annual, international creative writing event each November in which participants strive to write a 50,000-word manuscript during the month. According to the website NaNoWriMo.org, the organization also offers free help for writers to track their work, set milestones and connect with other writers.

Books on the Bosque is located at 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane NW, Suite A-2.

IN SANTA FE

Las Cruces author Kelley Cleary Coffeen will talk about her newly-released cookbook, “The Big Book of Hatch Chile” at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Collected Works, 202 Galisteo St., downtown Santa Fe. The volume has 180 easy-to-use recipes, from variations on the green chile cheeseburger to a chile-laced margarita, and is currently a top seller on Amazon.

The book also profiles family farms, restaurants and individuals that make chile central to the identity of the Hatch Valley.

Coffeen is also the author of five Mexican cookbooks. She is on the faculty of the Family and Consumer Sciences Department at New Mexico State University, promotes farmers’ markets and, in cooperation with the state Department of Agriculture, serves as one of its “chile ambassadors” in promoting chile crops.

— By David Steinberg/For the Journal