Library hosts book discussion series
Parsons Public Library will hold a three-part spring book discussion titled Beyond the Border: Latino Immigration Experiences in partnership with Humanities Kansas. The first book, “The House of Broken Angels” by Luis Alberto Urrea, will be discussed at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25. Kevin Rabas will lead the discussion. Copies of the book are available now.
The Beyond the Border series explores Latino immigration narratives and how they are essential to the entire multicultural landscape of American literature. “The House of Broken Angels” follows four generations of a Mexican American family caught up in border politics. In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly 100, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel’s half-brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life.
Kevin Rabas was the 2017-2019 poet laureate of Kansas. He teaches at Emporia State University, where he leads the poetry and playwriting tracks in the Department of English, Modern Languages and See BOOK, Page 5.
Journalism. He is a seventh generation Kansan and has published 16 books, including “Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano,” a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner. He is the recipient of the Emporia State President’s and Liberal Arts and Sciences Awards for Research and Creativity, and he is the winner of the Langston Hughes Award for Poetry.
Next up in the series will be “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration” by Sam Quinones at 6 p.m. Monday, March 17. Deborah Peterson will lead the discussion. At 6 p.m. Monday, April 28, Sister Rosemary Kolich will lead the final discussion of “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sanchez.
Humanities Kansas, a non-profit cultural organization, sponsors the discussions as part of its Talk About Literature in Kansas program. The group furnished the books and discussion leaders for the Parsons TALK series. More information about Humanities Kansas can be found at www.humanitieskansas.org.
