'Chicanafest' will feature discussions by writers and scholars, Saturday, Feb. 22

A public discourse on race, through the words and ideas of four acclaimed Chicana writers and scholars, will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, in Goldwin Smith Hall 258 at Cornell.

Titled "In Roads, All Roads: A Chicanafest," the event features author Helena Viramontes, Cornell associate professor of English; Lucha Corpi, a mystery writer and poet; novelist Montserrat Fontes; and scholar-poet Maria Herrera-Sobek. Morning sessions include informal presentations by each author and a roundtable discussion led by Mary Pat Brady, assistant professor of English. The afternoon
includes readings with question-and-answer sessions. The event is free and open to the public.

The day's events are listed below, followed by descriptions of the featured speakers:

• 9 a.m. Morning session: Welcoming comments; breakfast, refreshments and writers' presentations;

• 11:15 a.m.: Roundtable discussion.

• 1:30 p.m.: Afternoon readings: Lucha Corpi; Helena María Viramontes, and question and answer session;

• 3 p.m. Readings continued: Montserrat Fontes; María Herrera-Sobek, and question and answer session.

• 5 p.m.: Closing reception.

Viramontes is the author of Under the Feet of Jesus (1995) and The Moths and Other Stories (1985). A community organizer, leader of the Chicano arts movement in Los Angeles and Cornell English department faculty member, Viramontes lectures throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. She has also written a number of widely anthologized and highly respected Chicana feminist essays.

Corpi is winner of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship among other awards. Corpi authored two extremely influential books of poetry, Palabras de mediodía (1980) and Variaciones sobre una tempestad (1990), as well as one of the first contemporary Chicana novels Delia's Song (1989). Corpi teaches in the Oakland and Freemont public schools in California.

Fontes is the author of two highly respected and widely celebrated novels, First Confession (Norton, 1991) and Dreams of the Centaur (Norton, 1996), which won the American Book Award in 1997 and has been translated into French and German.

Herrera-Sobek is the Luis Leal Professor of Chicano Studies and acting vice chancellor at University of California, Santa Barbara. She is author and editor of more than a dozen scholarly books. Herrera-Sobek's scholarly contributions have fundamentally shaped the field of Chicano/a studies, said Brady.

This event is part of the Critical Race Lecture Series, cosponsored by the Latino Studies Program and the Department of Romance Studies.