From the Bookshelves

Reyna Grande, who is an English as a Second Language and Citizenship Teacher at the Los Angeles Unified School District, will receive $1,000 as part of the 2006 Aztlan Literary Award. Her novel “Across a Hundred Mountains” (here) is a poignant story of migration, loss and discovery as two women — one born in Mexico, one in the United States — find their lives joined in the most unlikely ay. The phenomenon of Mexican immigration to the United States is one of the most controversial issues of our time. While it is often discussed in terms of the political and economic implications, Grande, with this debut novel and her own profound insider’s perspective, puts a human face on the subject. Who are the men, women and children whose lives are affected by the forces that propel so many to risk life and limb, crossing the border in pursuit of a better life? Grande, born in Guerrero, Mexico in 1975, followed her parents to the United States at nine years of age. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Aztlan Literary Award is a national literary award, established to encourage and reward emerging Latino authors. Renowned author Rudolfo Anaya and his wife Patricia founded Premio Aztlán in 1993. To be considered, each entrant must have authored no more than two books as well as be active in “La Causa”. Former Premio Aztlán recipients — Denise Chavez, Pat Mora, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Sergio Toncoso and Mary Helen Lagasse — have become well-known literary figures.

KJ