All you need is a deadline: May 31st is the last day to submit to the Beyond Borders Literary Review! www.beyond-borders-books.com/literaryreview
We will publish works on the following themes:
Cultural heritage and identity
Place and geography
Political awakening
Memory and time
Details on Submission Guidelines:
📕 Short Fiction: Up to 2,500 words maximum
🎶Poetry: Submit a maximum of 2 poems for consideration
📝Essays: Up to 1,000 words maximum
🎨Photography and Art: PDF files are preferred, but JPG and PNG files are acceptable.
April is National Poetry Month, and we are excited to host poet César L. de León and read his debut book, speaking with grackles by soapberry trees.
Catch us on April 27th @ 11-12:30PM for our monthly group discussion and a poetry exercise. 🐦⬛
💡 ABOUT THE BOOK💡
César L. de León’s debut book, speaking with grackles by soapberry trees, is a collection of poems that make their home in the Borderlands of Texas. There are poems rooted in childhood, young-adult memories, and others that deal with queerness, identity, and relationships —familial and romantic. The inevitable grappling and coping that comes from living in a contested space, like the border, at a time when gun violence, police brutality, immigrant incarceration, and racism have increasingly become part of everyday life around the country can be found in poems like “River Escucha,” “Sugar Skull,” and others. Throughout the collection, the spirit of the borderlands marks its presence in a form of spirituality connecting the speaker with the natural world around him; birds aren’t the only things that he communes with. Lastly, like the ever-mutable nature of the land, more than a few of the poems in this collection range in form with creative and intentional use of white space or by fashioning pieces like “American Mathematics” and “Cloud Watching” in forms atypical for poetry.
✨MARCH READ✨Here it is! 🌱
Join us on March 23rd @ 11AM-12:30PM for @rabbidanyaruttenberg’s “On Repentance & Repair.”
ABOUT THE BOOK 📖**************
American culture continually asks victims to move on and avoid further confrontation, but the ethos of forgiveness-above-all often lets perpetrators off the hook without accountability. In On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg offers a crucial new perspective to navigating conflict, applying an ancient framework to the country’s most painful contemporary issues.
On Repentance and Repair is rooted in the work of the medieval philosopher Maimonides and his five stages of repentance: naming and owning harm; beginning to change; restitution and accepting consequences; apologizing; and making different choices. Grounded in traditional Jewish concepts while accessible to people from any, or no, religious background, On Repentance and Repair is a book for anyone who cares about creating a country and culture that is more whole than the one in which we live, and for anyone who has been hurt or who is struggling to take responsibility for their mistakes. #beyondborders956
February: the month you join us for James Baldwin’s critically acclaimed “The Fire Next Time.” 🔥
See you at our next discussion on February 17th @ 11AM-12:30PM.
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ABOUT THE BOOK ⬇️
A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two “letters,” written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as “sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle…all presented in searing, brilliant prose,” The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of our literature.
#beyondborders956
Discover the story of educator turned organizer, Aurelio Montemayor. Join us next month as we read “El Curso de la Raza” by Aurelio Montemayor and Thomas Garcia. ✊🏽👨🏽🏫
We are excited to welcome Aurelio himself into the Beyond Borders family for an in-person discussion of his memoir! 🗣️ 🎤
📆 See you at next discussion on January 13th @ 11AM-12:30PM. 📆
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ABOUT THE BOOK ⬇️
El Curso de la Raza: The Education of Aurelio Manuel Montemayor tells the story of Chicano activist and self-described fronterizo Aurelio Manuel Montemayor, whose dual identities as an educator and political organizer informed his hitherto little-known role in developing a course, or curso, that cultivated Chicano leadership from the barrios. This memoir follows Montemayor during the formative periods of his life—his education, his teaching career, his political awakening—to describe the development of his critical consciousness in 1960s America. The book combines the personal and the political, leading readers along a journey of self-discovery that results in Montemayor’s most consequential, yet relatively unknown, contribution to el movimiento, the Curso de la Raza.
Along the way, Montemayor grapples with his Mexican and American identities, foregoes his literary pursuits in favor of uplifting la raza, and navigates the pitfalls of movement politics. From marching with the Mexican American Youth Organization to cofounding the first independent Chicano college, Colegio Jacinto Treviño, he recounts lesser-known events and projects of Chicano activism in South Texas. In doing so, he provides a more complete portrait of the Chicano movement through the lens of an educator-turned-activist from the borderlands.
#beyondborders956
Thank you to @truchargv for capturing @beyondbordersbookclub’s October discussion of “Solito” by Javier Zamora. We were thankful to partner with The Young Center for this event and to help share their work in advocating for unaccompanied migrant children.
Shoutout to our member Joel for sharing his takeaways from “Solito.” ♥️ 🗣️
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Did you know that the Young Center offers year-round volunteer opportunities?
A Child Advocate is an adult who volunteers to spend time with and advocate on behalf of an individual unaccompanied immigrant child while they are subject to deportation proceedings. The Young Center welcomes volunteers from all cultures, professions, races, ethnicities and social backgrounds. Advocates must be at least 21 years old. There is a particular need for bilingual volunteers who speak Spanish.
If you are interested in learning more, email [email protected] ✉️
#beyondborders956
