Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Bless Me Ultima Marathon Reading

Bless Me, Ultima turns forty this year, and if that’s not enough reason to celebrate, the film version of the novel is scheduled for release in 2012 as well.  Just last month Rudolfo Anaya received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the L.A. Times and among other things, the Times cited his debut novel, Bless Me, Ultima, as “the most widely read and critically acclaimed novel in the Chicano literary canon.”

For all of these reasons and more, the Department of English and University Libraries will sponsor a Reading Marathon of Bless Me, Ultima on Monday, April 23rd in the Willard Reading Room of Zimmerman Library.  The event will begin at 8 a.m. with a student, faculty or staff member reading the first page of the novel, and it will conclude at about 5 p.m. when Rudolfo Anaya reads the last page. The reading will be followed by a reception. The Southwest Research Center will have a collection of Anaya’s papers—including manuscript pages from Bless Me, Ultima—on display

Forty-eight readers will take the podium throughout the day, and those who stop in to listen will have the chance to sign up for hourly door prizes—books, book bags, signed Edward Gonzalez posters, gift certificates and free dinners at participating restaurants.

Money raised from the event will go to endow the Rudolfo Anaya Scholarship Fund in the English Department.

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