The Southwest Festival of the Written Word, in conjunction with WNMU, LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) and the Western Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL), has announced that it will sponsor the Felipe de Ortego y Gasca Lecture. The lecture, in honor of WNMU’s former scholar-in-residence, will take place annually and will be on a topic connected with Latino/a issues. The lecture will be administered by the committee of the Southwest Festival of the Written Word.

Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca was a legendary figure in Chicano/a studies and the pioneer of the Chicano Renaissance in literature. Besides being a prolific writer, Ortego was an actor, musician, activist, university professor, and a U.S. Marine who saw action in three conflicts and served in the U.S. government. The son of migrant farmworkers, Ortego spoke only Spanish in his childhood. However, he went on to earn a Ph.D in English and published work in numerous genres, including journalism, fiction, theater, essays and academic papers. Ortego died in January 2019.

The inaugural Felipe de Ortego y Gasca lecture will be delivered on Tuesday October 1st, 6 p.m. at Miller Library, WNMU, by JJ Amaworo Wilson, WNMU’s writer-in-residence. The topic will be The Latino Boom, the extraordinary rise of Latin American fiction in the 60s and 70s.

The lecture will be part of the 2019 Southwest Festival of the Written Word. This year the festival takes place September 30-October 6 in various venues downtown and at WNMU. The full schedule can be found at www.swwordfiesta.org.