A Summer Gala to Remember

Last month (August 23), authors, book designers and illustrators, publishers and avid readers gathered for the annual New Mexico Book Association’s Summer Gala. Thrilled by our record attendance (70) and energized by our program, I served as emcee, sharing the mic with Co-President Miguel De La Cruz and other members of the board.

On the portal of Las Campanas in Santa Fe, acclaimed guitarist and singer Nacha Mendez performed for NMBA members and friends. Mendez, voted Best Female Vocalist in Santa Fe in 2009 and 2010, received the New Mexico Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.​

​​Moving inside for the program, we reported on NMBA highlights of the year and celebrated winners of the Southwest Book Design and Production Awards while waiting eagerly to hear from our keynote speaker. Jimmy Santiago Baca, an award-winning poet, memoirist, and screenwriter is often described as a “firebrand” and “inspirational.” Abandoned by his family early in his life and sent to an orphanage, he was a runaway at age thirteen. After being sentenced to five years in maximum security prison, Baca learned to read and write, discovering a voracious passion for poetry and the solace that writing can bring to the human soul.

Weaving stories about being a robber gang’s lookout, stumbling upon a nine-bedroom house of his dreams that he would one day own, and taking teenagers from east LA into the hallowed library of Stanford University, Baca shared significant parts of his life and writing with Gala attendees.

A book signing by Baca concluded an evening that I will long remember.

​Looking to the future, the NMBA, the only statewide non-profit with a laser focus on books, seeks to increase its relevance in the world of books and defy book censors who are fearful of truths that make them uncomfortable with the complexity of human beings. The NMBA supports the creation of quality books for readers of all ages, genders and ethnicities.
I am honored to serve as Co-President of this organization.