2008 Speakers
Helena María Viramontes
Helena María Viramontes is the author of The Moths and Other Stories (1995) and Under the Feet of Jesus (1995), a novel. Her most recent novel, Their Dogs Came with Them (2007), published by Atria Books, focuses on the disposessed, the working poor, the homeless, and the undocumented of East Los Angeles, where Viramontes was born and raised. Her work strives to recreate the visceral sense of a world virtually unknown to mainstream letters and to transform readers through compassionate storytelling. Named a USA Ford Fellow in Literature for 2007 by United States Artists, she has also received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, a Sundance Institute Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Luis Leal Award. Viramontes is currently professor of creative writing at Cornell University.
Speaker Links
Visit Viramontes's web page.
Read more about Viramontes.
Viramontes receives the Luis Leal Literature Award.
The California-based radio program Bookworm interviews Viramontes.
Read an interview with Viramontes.
The Austin Chronicle reviews Their Dogs Came With Them and interviews Viramontes.