Valley author Garcia earns accolade from International Latino Book Awards

PHARR, Texas – Thomas Ray Garcia’s literary debut, The River Runs, has been selected as a finalist in the “Best Collection of Short Stories (English)” category by the International Latino Book Awards.

Garcia said his literary debut reimagines the Texas-Mexico border as a site of belonging and becoming through 11 short stories.

“In our collective imagination, the Texas-Mexico border is often reduced to a single narrative: a chaos zone. I wrote the stories in The River Runs to challenge and complicate that narrative,” Garcia told the Rio Grande Guardian.

“These stories expand our conception of what border stories can be. They explore the paradoxes and complexities of living along a river running through our countries, communities, and cultures.”

According to a review of The River Runs by Lone Star Literary Life, “This intriguing collection of short stories is reminiscent of Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. While The River Runs does not contain poetry, the prose is often lyrical and swells with imagery and symbolism.”

There are three finalists for the Best Collection of Short Stories (English) award. The other two are: 

Loteria, by Cynthia Pelayo of Puerto Rica who now lives in Chicago. It is published Agora Books.

The Faraway World, by Patricia Engel of Colombia who now lives in Miami. The book is published by Avid Reader Press.

Garcia, a Pharr native, is an English faculty member at South Texas College and the founder of the College Scholarship Leadership Access Program (CSLAP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to increasing college enrollment and graduation rates in Hidalgo County. His book is published by Prickly Pear Publishing.

The three finalists will be awarded a gold, silver, or bronze medal at the 26th Annual International Latino Book Awards ceremony, which will be held on October 19th, 2024, on the campus of Los Angeles City College.

The awards ceremony will be hosted by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Empowering Latino Futures, which has honored over 3,000 books through the International Latino Book Awards since its founding in 1997.

This year, Empowering Latino Futures received a 38 percent increase in entries over the previous record high. The nonprofit recruited 239 judges to review books in 105 categories.

“Over the last three decades, we’ve seen the field of Latino books grow from a few books in most key book categories to where today there’s a growing wide variety of books in most categories,” said Kirk Whisler, president of Empowering Latino Futures. “With that growth has come awareness across the book industry that books by and about Latinos are a viable industry.”

Since its founding in 1997 Empowering Latino Futures has held 74 Latino Book & Family Festivals around the USA with its Latino Book & Family Festivals. In addition to honoring over 3,000 books with the International Latino Book Awards, it has provided 245,000 books to underserved youth with its Education Begins in the Home program, which started in 2015. It has also served 182,500 youth with its National Latino & American Indian Scholarship Directory; as well as its Latino Books into Movies Awards that has honored 199 books and scripts. 

This year’s partners for the book festival include AARP California, Amazon Literary Partnership, Google Transformation Tech, Independent Book Publishers Association, Lantia, Las Comadres, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Community College District, MAAC, MiraCosta College, Molina Healthcare, Sacramento City College, Sacramento Progressive Communities, San Diego County, and TrueCare.

To learn more about the awards and the ceremony, visit www.LatinoBookAwards.org

The post Valley author Garcia earns accolade from International Latino Book Awards appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.