First New Mexico Women Authors Book Festival, Sept 27
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008|
MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION SHOPS Festival to Feature 75 New Mexican Women Authors in:
SANTA FE, NM—Novelist Ana Castillo, Santa Fe Poet Laureate Valerie Martinez, former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, cookbook guru Deborah Madison, and 71 other notable women authors will celebrate the joy of reading and the creative power of New Mexico’s women writers at the first “New Mexico Women Authors Book Festival” on Saturday, September 27.
The festival takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Milner Plaza on Museum Hill. Festival admission is free, and also includes free admission to the Museum of International Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.
A diverse collection of 75 well-known and emerging women writers from throughout New Mexico have been selected to participate in the New Mexico Women Authors Book Festival, which is modeled after the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival, held every September on the mall in Washington, D.C. This unique festival format allows visitors to hear authors in a variety of genres read and discuss their craft in 30-minute intervals in a casual, interactive environment.
Authors will be showcased at the festival in seven open-air pavilions: “Fiction,” “Poetry,” “Mysteries and Fantasy”, “History and Biography,” “Art,” “Home and Family,” and “Children.” (A list of participants is attached.) Additionally, a special pavilion will highlight information about the New Mexico History Museum, scheduled to open in 2009, and educate visitors about the history of book-making and printing in New Mexico.
Book signings and sales will also take place on Milner Plaza, as well as special activities and educational games for children and their parents. New Mexico teachers will be invited to a special event to learn about the depth of women writers in the state and how their books can contribute to school curricula.
“We want the community to see that there’s this powerful group of women in New Mexico producing wonderful work,” says John Stafford, retail operations director for the Museum Shops.
Museum of New Mexico Foundation Executive Director Tom Aageson adds: “Each of these women is an entrepreneur in their own right, and each is special to New Mexico.” The first New Mexico Women Authors Book Festival is presented by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation Shops, a program of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, as part of its successful “New Mexico Creates” program, which provides marketing and promotion opportunities and support to artists, artisans, and other creative entrepreneurs statewide. Since its founding in 2002, participation in the New Mexico Creates program has grown from 319 artists to nearly 800 artists last year, while the Museum Shops has purchased over $4 million in New Mexico-made merchandise, helping to build both artists’ livelihoods and the New Mexico economy.
The New Mexico Women Authors Book Festival is being made possible by a major grant from the Marineau Family Foundation and support from other sponsors. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available. Volunteers are also being sought for the daylong festival.
For more information about festival sponsorship opportunities, or how to become a festival volunteer, contact John Stafford, Museum Shops Director of Retail Operations, at 505-982-3016 or john@museumfoundation.org.
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Founded in 1962, the private, non-profit Museum of New Mexico Foundation provides funding for exhibitions, education, collections, capital improvements and other valuable programs and projects at the Museum of New Mexico. More than 12,000 foundation members statewide and across the U.S. support the Palace of the Governors and the New Mexico History Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of International Folk Art, and Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology; seven state monuments; and the Office of Archaeological Studies.
For more information about the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, call 505-982-6366 or visit www.museumfoundation.org PRESENTING AUTHORS
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