May 9, 2012 • Aunt Lute is thrilled to announce our community partnership with the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project’s (QWOCMAP) 8th annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival, featuring films and panel discussions made by and for queer women and transgender people of color.

April 27, 2012 • Aunt Lute thanks all attendees for supporting “Struggle, Then and Now.” We are deeply honored to have facilitated an diverse dialogue between so many involved members of the Bay Area community, whose interest and passion makes such discussions possible. That said, while we are glad that complex issues our multi-generational community struggles with today were broached in our round table discussion, our intention was to create a space that was not only honest and open, but also inclusive and welcoming for as many people as possible, of all identities. We hear your desire for a continuing discussion, so please watch this space as we move forward.

April 25, 2012 • LeAnne Howe, author of fiction, poetry, screenplays, creative nonfiction, plays and scholarship that primarily deal with American Indian and Native American experiences, has been honored with the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas. You can read about Howe’s achievements (literary, educational, and otherwise), travels, and more in the press release about the 2012 award. One of the few literary awards to be presented to Native Americans by Native Americans, the Literary Achievement Award was most recently awarded to Sherman Alexie in 2010.

April 11, 2012 • Where can you find bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa and Hermione Granger side by side? Why, the Feminist Harry Potter Tumbler, of course! The brainchild of Krystie Yadoli of Syracuse University, this blog brings to light the existing feminist ideas within the rich Potterverse and also provides a forum to discuss the more problematic elements. Return to Hogwarts with an eye for how this pop culture touchstone, written by a single mother, touches not just on myths and magic, but also on some of the feminist theory we love.

Aunt Lute celebrates the 25th anniversary of Gloria Anzaldúa‘s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza with weekly quotes about the enduring importance and beauty of this groundbreaking work. An influence work in women’s and Chicana/Latina studies—and in the lives of everyday people—Borderlands not only expressed Gloria’s perspectives as a queer mestiza, but offered a new, hybrid way of speaking and understanding for all outsiders.

Do you have a favorite quote about Borderlands? Share it with us!

April 4, 2012 • As many of you know, celebrated poet, feminist, and activist Adrienne Rich passed away last week at the age of 82. Her prolific works gave voice to communities that had been—and all to often continue to be—stifled, and inspired a generation of women, writers, and intellectuals. Democracy Now! invited fellow poet Alice Walker and her longtime literary agent Frances Goldin to speak on Rich’s work and influence. Aunt Lute has published work by Adrienne Rich Alice Walker in the The Aunt Lute Anthology of American Women Writers, Volume Two and Alice Walker Banned.

March 20, 2012 • This week in the Huffington Post Blog, Emily Lutenski writes about the importance of student access to Ethnic Studies materials, specifically how Gloria Anzaldúa’s legendary Borderlands La Frontera, currently banned from classrooms in Arizona, remains vital for students of all ethnic backgrounds. Lutenski covers The Librotraficante Caravan, a group of educators and activists seeking to smuggle banned books back into Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico where Ethnic and Raza Studies are under attack. Borderlands is just one of the many banned books Librotraficante is working to re-distribute via its “underground libraries” in community centers and converted taco trucks that distribute books on-the-go.

March 19, 2012 • Ellen Kuzwayo, author of Call Me Woman, was one of four South Africans honored by Rhodes University earlier this month when the school renamed their Hilltop residences and Hilltop Hall. The other honorees were Amina Cachalia, Fort Calata and Desmond Tutu, and the four were selected for their inspirational lives.

February 28, 2012 •

Imagine being at a conference… People are sitting on the floor, crammed against the walls, standing outside waiting to see if they can get in or to see if they can at least hear from a distance. There’s a buzz, an excitement about what is being discussed… I’m describing what has occurred at conferences when the topic of Gloria Anzaldúa’s work is discussed.

So begins Amelia M. L. Montes in her recently posted article at La Bloga, “Doing the Work That Matters”—The Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa,” which discusses the formation and importance of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa (SSGA).

February 17, 2012 • Aunt Lute author http://auntlute.com/764/author/rosa-montero/
>Rosa Montero is featured in La Voz magazine and The Prisma for her evocative writing and incisive views on the state of journalism. Montero’s 1997 book La hija del cannibal (The Cannibal’s Daughter) was recently reviewed by Diana Casais as part of La Voz’s Literary café series.