NVC Faculty Busy Publishing/Writing

Italian Blood

Congrats to NVC faculty, Denise Tolan. She will have her memoir out Oct 11 titled “Italian Blood: A Memoir.”

In addition to her memoir, Denise has recently retired from Northwest Vista working full time, but will return as an adjunct. Denise’s work has been included in places such as the Penn Review, Atlas and Alice, Hobart, Lunch Ticket, and The Best Small Fictions 2018. You can find out about her obsession with survivors and Moby-Dick at www.denisetolan.com.

Book Overview: Denise Tolan’s memoir-in-essay traces the legacy of violence in an Italian American family, showing how abuse reverberates both in the body and mind of a family. The book’s first part, “Blood is Not Water,” lays out how the origins of violence can infect the roots of a family tree. The second part, “Good Blood Doesn’t Lie,” shows what grows from those roots. Italian Blood is a raw, heartbreaking series of essays where everything is connected through literal and metaphorical blood. These essays offer a connection to anyone who suffered childhood shame, violence, or fear and provide reassurance that they are not alone.

Writer’s Workshop

NVC faculty, Denise Tolan and Natalia Trevino, recently took part in The Macon Writers Workshop this summer. 

The Macondo Writers Workshop is an association of socially-engaged writers working to advance creativity, foster generosity, and serve the community. Founded in 1995 by poet and writer Sandra Cisneros and named after the town in Gabriel García Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the workshop gathers writers from all genres who work on geographic, cultural, economic, gender, and spiritual borders. An essential aspect of the Macondo Workshop is a global sense of community; participants recognize their place as writers in our society and the world. We are also experienced writers who demonstrate a professional or master’s level of writing.

Radical Self Love

Congratulations to Dr. June Pedraza, NVC professor of English and discipline coordinator for Mexican American Studies.

Her piece “Radical Self Love: A Theory of Being” will be coming out soon in an anthology called “Somos Tejanas”  by UT Press.