October 18, 2014 – Las Cruces, NM - On this edition of PUENTES, Emily Guerra bridges the community with local performance writer, playwright, teacher and cultural activist, Denise Chavez. She is also the director of the longest-running book festival in New Mexico, the Border Book Festival. Her Hispanic heritage has roots in Far West Texas with her Mother, Delfina Rede-Faver-Chavez, and in Las Cruces with her Father, Epifanio E. Chavez.
Chavez’s new novel, The King and Queen of Comezón, was released this year on Mexican Independence Day, September 16th. She said, “comezón (in Spanish) is an itch, but it’s also a longing that can never be satisfied or a desire that will never be fulfilled; and it is also a small town in New Mexico.” Chavez also tells us “the book is deeply looking at what is it that we left unfinished that could never be accomplished and maybe we can do something about it. Really, in a way all of my books are about longing.” Just like in her last book, Loving Pedro Infante, 2001, and previous works, Face of An Angel, 1994, and The Last of the Menu Girls, 1986, she inspires us to appreciate what we have before it is gone.
For more information visit www.borderbookfestival.org; or visit at 314 S. Tornillo St., Las Cruces, NM 88001; or call (575)523-3988.