The countries invited this year were: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, United States and Uruguay.
1. Argentina: Carlos Aldazabal
2. Colombia: Andrea Cote Botero
3. Ecuador: Gabriel Cisneros and Iván Oñate
4. México: Ali Calderón
5. Perú: Efraín Kristal and Miguel Ángel Zapata
6. Uruguay: Martha Canfield
7. USA: Madeline Millan
Day 1 – Friday, October 30
Venue: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH)
4:30 pm Opening by Vice President of CCA Monica
4:35 pm Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, México and USA,
moderated by Deanea LeFlore
6:00 pm Mario Vargas Llosa: “A Captivating Intellectual and
Literary Journey”
Presentation by Professor Efrain Kristal (University of
California)
"From Mme. Bovary to Urania Cabral: women and
dictatorship in Vargas Llosa’s narrative. The Feast
of the Goat"
Presentation by Professor Martha Canfield
(University of Florence).
Moderated by Ivan Oñate
(Central University of Ecuador)
MC: Ludy Campos Ayub
Day 2 – Saturday, October 31
Venue: Rice University, Stude Concert Hall
1:00 pm: Books available for purchase in Alice Pratt Brown Hall lobby
1:45 pm: Doors open to Stude Concert Hall
2:45 pm: Open seats released to public (please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the program to ensure seating).
3:00 pm Welcome and Introduction of Mario Vargas Llosa by David Leebron, Rice University
3:00 pm “The persistence of Memory: Mario Vargas Llosa”: A dialogue with Miguel Ángel Zapata
4:05 pm Recognition to Mario Vargas Llosa by District C Houston City Council Member Ellen R. Cohen
4:10 pm Closing of the Festival by President of CCA Dr. Elizabeth Quila
• 4:30 – 5:00 pm: Book Signing by Mario Vargas Llosa
Day 2 – Saturday, October 31 Venue: Double Tree by Hilton, Greenway Plaza
6:30 pm Casa Cultural de las Americas First Annual Scholarship Ball Masquerade 2015
"We've planted a seed an ever growing wonder to a beautiful tree..."
At the start of the event we forecast that we were in for an intellectual feast, we think that was the understatement of the year. We enjoyed a successful of thoughtful and stimulating lectures culminating in active discussion.
On Casa Cultural behalf would like to express its gratitude to the 2010 Nobel Prize recipient, Mr. Mario Vargas Llosa, Rice University, the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, and all our sponsors for their magnificent help as well as to congratulate all those who have participated from different parts of the Americas for their magnificent contributions in front of a diverse audience ascertain that Literature is and will always be a universal language spoken with all sorts of accents.
Why us who have been working on Casa Cultural are doing it. Why bother doing what we are doing?
Three years ago, we described ourselves thusly as an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage and arts of the Americas; aiming at promoting a better understanding of all art forms among the nations of the Americas through cultural exchanges and exposure. That was an ambitious beginning; a vision that started in the heart of our President, Elizabeth Quila-Hussmann.
As Elizabeth, we were also craving for reviving the love for literature to provoke change! We wished to see literature being taught in schools as a way to offer our children and youth a powerful tool to cope with a challenging world; to defend their ideas, speak freely and express their hunger for freedom. We wished to overcome differences and misunderstanding among our cultures. We wished to demonstrate the world that borders are just illusions, that we are only citizens of one and only one world, Earth. We wished to use literature as a kind of revenge.
As Mario Vargas Llosa’s famous quote says, “Literature …It's something that gives …. what real life can't give … - all the adventures, all the suffering. All the experiences we can only live in the imagination, literature completes.” Yes, we wished to feel complete!
Today, we invite you to be part of us in the widest possible perspective. Every one of you is a cunning artificer of the future of your nation, your heritage, and your culture. We are just facilitators that weave your ideas into our vision.
Let us all work together to keep the International Literature Festival growing and expanding as a reflection of great minds on evolution.
WE DELIVER
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WORLDWIDE
Carlos J. Aldazábal, is one of the best Argentineans contemporary poets. He won the prestigious poetry award “Alhambra de Poesía Americana (Granada, Spain), and the first Poetry Prize: “Primer Premio Regional de Poesía (NOA) de la Secretaría de Cultura de la Argentina” and the “Primer Premio del II Concurso “Identidad, de las huellas a la palabra”, organized by the “ Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo”.
Andrea Cote-Botero is the author of the poetry collections: Port in Ashes, Fragile Things, Chinatown 24 hours (Object Book) and La Ruina que Nombro. She has also published books of prose: A Nude Photographer: A Biography of Tina Modotti and Blanca Varela or Writing From Solitude. She has obtained the following recognitions: The National Prize of Poetry from the Universidad Externado of Colombia (2003), the Puentes de Struga International Poetry Prize (2005) and the Cittá de Castrovillari Prize
Alí Calderón (Mexico City, 1982) is a Mexican poet and literary critic. He earned a doctorate in Mexican Letters at UNAM. He teaches Latin American literature and theory at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Co-founder and main editor of the most read online poetry journal of the hispanic world, Círculo de Poesía. He received the National Poetry Award Ramón López Velarde (2004) and Premio Latinoamericano de Poesía Benemérito de América (2007).
Alí Calderón (Mexico City, 1982) is a Mexican poet and literary critic. He earned a doctorate in Mexican Letters at UNAM. He teaches Latin American literature and theory at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Co-founder and main editor of the most read online poetry journal of the Hispanic world, Círculo de Poesía. He received the National Poetry Award Ramón López Velarde (2004) and Premio Latinoamericano de Poesía Benemérito de América (2007). He is the author of poetry books.
Martha L. Canfield, Uruguay, is Full Professor of Spanish American Literature at the University of Florence. She is the author of Donne allo specchio. Racconti ispanoamericani fra Ottocento e Novecento (Le Lettere, Florence 1997) and Literatura Hispanoamericana. Historia y antología, vol 1 Prehispánica y colonial (Hoepli, Milan 2009). She has also written extensively on contemporary Spanish American poetry and narrative, specially about Borges, Cortázar, García Márquez, César Vallejo, etc.
Efraín Kristal is professor and chair of UCLA’s Department of Comparative Literature. He is author of several books and over one hundred scholarly articles, book chapters and prologues. He is honorary professor at the Universidad del Pacífico in his native Peru. His work on Mario Vargas Llosa includes Temptation of the Word. The Novels of Mario Vargas Llosa (1998); and The Cambridge Companion to Mario Vargas Llosa (2012) co-edited with John King.