Renowned novelist, poet, and scholar Ana Castillo will be visiting South Texas College this March in honor of Women’s History Month.

Castillo will visit three of South Texas College’s campuses, starting with a visit on March 4 at 6:00 pm at the Pecan Campus Library. On March 5 at 10:00 am, Castillo will visit the Starr County Campus Auditorium, and she will conclude her visit on March 5 at 6:00 pm at the MidValley Campus Auditorium.

Castillo is a prolific writer and her work has garnered many awards including the American Book Award for The Mixquiahuala Letters. Her other notable works include The Guardians, I Ask the Impossible, and Massacre of the Dreamers. She has been regarded as one of the most original voices in contemporary literature.

Raised in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago, Castillo credits the powerful storytelling tradition of her Mexican heritage as the foundation and inspiration for her writing. She currently lives between New Mexico and Chicago where she teaches at Northwestern University.

Later in the month, on March 26 at 4:00 pm, Dr. Leticia Garza-Falcon will visit the Pecan Campus Library.

Garza-Falcon’s seminal book Gente Decente: A Borderlands Response to the Rhetoric of Dominance was awarded the Katherine Singer Kovacs Award. The book explores how prominent Mexican American writers of Mexican descent, such as Jovita González, used literature to respond to the dominative history of the United States.

Women’s History Month is celebrated in March in the United States every year, and it highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.

Castillo and Garza-Falcon’s visits are part of the annual Jovita Gonzalez Women’s History Month Lecture sponsored by the South Texas College Library and the Center for Mexican American Studies.

In addition there are two special exhibits at the Pecan Campus Library which include “Women’s Work,” an exhibit featuring etchings by Debbie Little-Wilson and the photo exhibit “Mexican American Women.” The exhibits are in partnership with the Library Art Gallery and the Pecan Latin@s Club.

For more information about these events please contact Esther Garcia at (956)872-6485 or egarcia10@southtexascollege.edu.

Throughout the month of March, South Texas College is celebrating Women’s History Month with activities focused on the extraordinary accomplishments of empowered women. Festivities include lectures, movies, an art exhibit and much more. Admission to each event is free and open to the public.

The college’s Center for Mexican American Studies will open the festivities with the Jovita Gonzalez Women’s History Month Lecture Series, which is kicked off by historian Teresa Palomo Acosta who will discuss “Las Tejanas: 300 Years of History” along with STC historian Dr. Trinidad Gonzales.  This event will take place on March 6 at the Pecan Campus Library at 6:30 p.m.  The talk will be followed by a book signing.

Following that talk, there will be a visit from journalist Karen Blumenthal who will discuss her book “Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX.”  She will speak on March 19 at 6:00 p.m. at the Starr Campus Auditorium.  The following day then MidValley Campus Library on March 20 at 1:00 p.m., and she will conclude her visit at Pecan Campus Library on March 20 at 6:00 p.m.

At the MidValley Library there will be a screening of the film “One Woman One Vote” on March 19 at 2:30 p.m. followed by a panel discussion of the issues by the History Club.  The Pecan Campus Library will host a screening of the film “Adelante Mujeres!” followed by a panel discussion of the Pecan Latin@s Club on March 26 at 12:00 p.m.  The Starr Campus Library will be showing the acclaimed film “Iron Jawed Angels” on March 27 at 12:00 p.m.

On March 21 at MidValley, there will be a Reader’s Theater Night at 5:00 p.m., where faculty, staff, students and members of the community are invited to read a literature selection by or about a woman.

“The celebration of Women’s History Month provides a wonderful opportunity for students to learn what women have accomplished and the formidable obstacles they overcame,” said Laura Gomez, organizer of the Mid-Valley Campus events. “My hope is that these events will inspire every student to recognize their own potential and achieve their dreams.”

Throughout the month of March, the STC Library will exhibit a series of photos that show the story of “Mexican American Women.”  The series of photos is from the National Women’s History Project, and it has been a collaborative effort between the Pecan Latin@s Club and the Library.

For more information about these events please contact Esther Garcia at (956)872-6485 or egarcia10@southtexascollege.edu.