Denise Chávez's appearances at our festivals, to me, represent what is best about the Southwest Festival of the Written Word. She is an internationally respected author who was born and raised in the region, has given much back to her hometown of Las Cruces, and always draws a loyal and fanatic crowd in one of our downtown venues. Javalina Coffee House puts in a request early to make sure Chávez comes back to their place: not for the money (sure, they sell a lot of coffee during the event) but because she's a helluva lot of fun and they love her work on-stage. Chávez is entertaining, a larger-than-life figure who tells heartfelt and funny stories about waitresses, childhood matinee idols, tacos, West Texas. The audience is engaged, listening, laughing. One of our festival organizers said that the difference between a conference and a festival is that conferences hope to teach and maybe entertain, festivals hope to entertain and teach if they can. Chávez makes ours a Festival!
I'm a newcomer to this region from the far north, I can't pretend to have deep roots here like Chávez has. But I can say that her approach to writing and presentation is very similar to one of my homeboys: Garrison Keillor. It's a comparison I hope she doesn't mind. Her stories come across clearly and speak to us in straightforward prose that can pivot quickly between heartache and laughter. There's a deep reverence for the people who have been a part of her life and for the typically southwest places that witness their coming and going.
For example, from Loving Pedro Infante ...
In the darkness of El Colón movie theater, larger than life and superimposed on a giant screen, Pedro Infante, the Mexican movie star, stares straight at me with his dark, smoldering eyes.
It is here in the sensuous shadows that I forget all about my life as Teresina "La Tere" Ávila, teacher's aide at Cabritoville Elementary School. Maybe that's why I like Pedro's movies so much. They make me think to stop thinking or stop thinking to really think.
It is here that I prefer to dream, seated in the middle of the people I call family. To my right is my comadre, Irma "La Wirma" Granados, and next to her is her mother, Nyvia Ester Granados.
It's dinnertime on a hot July night. I should be at home, and yet I find myself lost in the timeless transparency of El Colón watching Pedro Infante in the movie La Vida No Vale Nada. Pedro plays a melancholic loner named Pablo who keeps leaving any number of possible lives behind, and all sorts of women who might have loved him. He's a good-hearted vato who goes on these incredible life-changing borracheras whenever he feels overwhelmed, which is pretty much most of the time.
Ay, Dios mío.
Pedro's lips part slightly with that naughty nene -- little boy -- grin of his as he breaks into a song.
¡Ay, ay, ay!
Pedro knows me. He knows I crave his arms. His touch. His deep voice in my ear, his knowing hands on my trembling body.
Híjole.
The great flames of my dreams billow up to meet the flickering screen, as a wave of intense light consumes the sweet, painful and familiar song of my untold longing.
Chávez was born to a Mexican American family in Las Cruces and attended Catholic School for twelve years. While in High School, she won a full tuition scholarship to study drama at New Mexico State University (NMSU). She received her Bachelor's from NMSU in 1971 and a master's degree in Theater from Trinity University in 1974. Later she entered the MFA program at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and earned a degree in Creative Writing in 1984 under the direction of mentors Rudolfo Anaya and Tony Hillerman.
Chávez has taught creative writing at NMSU, New Mexico Community College and at the University of Houston. Later, she created The Border Book Festival in Las Cruces. Currently she is developing, along with her husband, Daniel Zolinsky, a Borderland Art and Resource center, Museo de La Gente/Museum of the people, archiving the history and story of her borderland community.
In 1985, she earned the Rockefeller Playwriting Fellowship. She has received various awards, including the American Book Award in 1995, the New Mexico Governor's Award in Literature in 1995, the Premio Aztlán Literary Prize, the Mesilla Valley Author of the Year Award, and the 2003 Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature. She earned the Lifetime Achievement Award, Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize from UNM in 2016.
The date and time of her presentation is still to be determined. But she will definitely be here at Javalina for the October festival. Like Keillor, hers is a talent that will be talked about for a long time.