Arroz con Mango: The Secret Lives of Three Writers
Arroz con Mango: The Secret Lives of Three Writers
Reading + Q&A + Art Exhibition
Join us for an unforgettable evening featuring acclaimed authors Cristina García, Ana Menéndez, and Virgil Suárez, with art curated by Elvia Rosa Castro.
📅 Friday, September 5
🕖 7:00 PM
📍 Books & Books (265 Aragon Ave)
This special event blends literature, conversation, and visual art in celebration of Cuban and Latin American voices. Proceeds benefit the Books & Books Literary Foundation.
About:
Cristina García is the author of eight novels: Dreaming in Cuban, The Agüero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador’s Hotel, King of Cuba, Here in Berlin, and Vanishing Maps. She’s also published poetry, children’s books, and Latinx anthologies. García’s work has been nominated for a National Book Award and translated into fifteen languages. She’s taught at universities nationwide and is also a working playwright and visual artist.
Ana Menéndez has published five books of fiction, most recently The Apartment. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt, and her awards include a Pushcart Prize for fiction and an ASNE first prize for commentary. In 2023, she exhibited her artwork at Books & Books. Lately she’s become interested in botanical drawings, palm trees, and Islamic geometric and biomorphic art. She believes every writer should cultivate an “incompetent art”, and she practices what she preaches.
Virgil Suárez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1962. At the age of twelve he arrived in the United States. He received an MFA from Louisiana State University in 1987. He is the author of eight collections of poetry, most recently 90 MILES: SELECTED AND NEW and THE PAINTED BUNTING’S LAST MOLT, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. His work has appeared in a multitude of magazines and journals internationally. He is the recipient of an NEA, a State of Florida Individual Artist Grant, and the Latino Literature Prize. He lives with his wife in Fucked Up Florida.
Elvia Rosa Castro is a Cuban independent curator and art critic writer based in North Carolina with 23 years’ impassioned experience in conceiving and launching significant, acclaimed exhibitions in Cuba, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, and the United States. MSc. in Art History, University of Havana (2000). Degree in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and History, University of Havana (1991).She has published over 100 papers in ARTECUBANO Magazine, Cuban Art News, ArtNexus, Rialta, El Estornudo, and On Cuba, negotiating the complex political landscape to best represent the artists and to educate diverse audiences. Elvia is the founder and CEO of El Sr. Corchea, an independent blog and a fan page created to promote visual artists and writers.
🎟️ Free and open to the public! Books and artwork will be available for purchase at the event.