Contents 2004 Festival Tour Schedule Is Set Professional Staff Added Profile of Latino Literacy Now The Book Industry Has Discovered the Latino Market From Edward James Olmos You Can Help

Everyone at the Latino Book & Family Festival appreciates your continued support of our efforts to reduce illiteracy and promote literary excellence while advancing the cause of reading in the Latino Community. This newsletter is being sent to you as a subscriber to the Latino Book & Family Festival mailing list. Look for new editions at this time every month.

2004 Festival Tour Schedule Is Set

Our first three Festivals for 2004 (San Diego, Phoenix and Los Angeles) all feature slight changes in dates and/or venues that should be noted.

First up is our 5th Annual San Diego Festival to be held May 15 -16 with a new home and partner: Southwestern College. Of the 19,000 students at Southwestern, 58% are Hispanic with an additional 23% either African American, Filipino and/or Asian. A truly multi-cultural student body. The campus at Southwestern is ideal for a free flowing Festival exhibit area that will utilize walkways, lecture halls and the beautiful outdoor setting. "We've seen this type of venue work well at UCLA for their main stream market book show" says Jim Sullivan, Latino Literacy Now Executive Director of Marketing, "and we have every reason to expect it will work exceedingly well for our event, especially considering the exceptionally high ratio of Hispanic students at Southwestern."

Up next will be the 3rd Annual Phoenix Festival. This event has been moved back a little later in the year to August 28-29 and is being positioned as a back to school event. Our co-host for the event, Arvizu Advertising and Promotions, feels strongly that this is a much better time of the year to produce a quality event in the Valley of the Sun. For the third year in a row the event will be held at the Phoenix Civic Plaza. For those who have not had the pleasure of visiting Phoenix please consider this an invitation. Downtown Phoenix is one of the cleanest, most accessible and fun urban centers of any of the cities we visit each year. Sure, it is a little warm in Phoenix at the end of the Summer, but prices are more reasonable at hotels and restaurants, everything is air-conditioned and it is all within walking distance of the Festival venue.

The Festival also feels it has found the perfect long term home for the Los Angeles event. This oldest (8th Annual) and largest of our Festivals will be held September 25-26 at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). When we left the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles after the 2002 event it was our aim to take the Festival to the community. Actually Exposition Park worked well for a first time outdoor event in 2003. In fact attendance figures have started to climb again after the disastrous affects of September 11, 2001 lowered attendance figures throughout the entire meetings, events and conventions industry. But the need for a permanent home more centrally located has led us to ELAC. According to Festival Producer and ELAC Alumnus Edward James Olmos, "East L.A. is truly the heart of the Latino community. We are very happy to be associated with this fine educational institution. It's nice to be back."

Look for more information on the other three Festivals this year, Houston, October 16-17, Chicago, November 20-21 and the Inland Empire, December 11-12 in next month's newsletter.

Southwestern College

	Professional Staff Added
We are pleased to announce the addition of two professionals to our national event production team. As part of our organization's continuing steady growth, the new hires bring the expertise to enhance current Festival efforts with directed, integrated marketing efforts, and support the organization's future expansion plans. Andy Valenzuela, Literacy Executive Director - Andy joins the LATINO LITERACY NOW organization from a publishing, business development and management background. Most recently he was the General Manager for the US subsidiary of an international publisher from Latin America. Andy holds undergraduate degrees in Economics and Latin American Literature from the University of California, Irvine and a graduate degree in management from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management. Roberto Chavez, Art Director - Roberto has 11 years of design and production experience working at publishing and marketing companies. In that time, Roberto has worked on newsletters, trade journals and magazines, marketing campaigns, corporate videos, and websites. Most recently, Roberto worked as an independent web design consultant. Roberto is happy to come back to publishing. "I have seen a dramatic improvement in the workflow on all Festival related items in the short two months Andy and Roberto have been on board" says Jim Sullivan, formerly Festival Director and now Marketing Executive Director, "and I'm positive the public will soon see the results as well."

	Profile of Latino Literacy Now
Latino Literacy Now, formerly the Latino Literary Hall of Fame, is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization dedicated to connecting appropriate educational causes and resources with the rapidly evolving Hispanic community nationwide. While numerous literacy programs target various populations in the USA, relatively few focus on the Latino community. At a recent summit of 64 California literacy groups, Latino Literacy Now was the only group targeting Latinos in a state where 32% of the population is Latino-and a much larger percentage of those in need are Latino. Latino Literacy Now is the link between those in need within the Latino community and the organizations and programs that are providing possible answers. In addition to the Latino Book & Family Festival other programs operating under the banner of Latino Literacy Now include: Latino Literary Hall of Fame Open A Book, Change Your Future scholastic initiative. PALABRAS (the Professional Association of Latino Authors, Booksellers, Representatives, Agents and School Librarians). Latino Book Awards There are many excellent ways for you to participate in our programs. If you are a teacher and would like to register your school for the Open A Book program at the upcoming Festival in your area go to openabook.org. If you are a professional in the book publishing industry and are interested in membership in PALABRAS, contact Rafael Colón at (360) 459-7228, or visit with him in person at the upcoming San Diego Latino Book and Family Festival on May 15-16 at Southwestern College. Nominating forms for this year's Latino Book Awards (see following story) can be downloaded here. And of course everyone is invited to the next Latino Book & Family Festival. You are an important part of the Festival Family. This is your show. We welcome your suggestions on improvements, additions and changes. Latino Literacy Now Board of Directors: Edward James Olmos, Chair Kirk Whisler, President Katharine A. Diaz, Vice President Zeke Montes, Secretary-Treasurer

	The Book Industry Has Discovered the Latino Market
Latino publishing professionals to gather in Chicago. In recognition of the many positive contributions being made to the world of Latino literature by publishers and writers, Latino Literacy Now is collecting nominations for the 6th Annual Latino Book Awards. These awards recognize talented Latino publishers and authors who might not otherwise have this public opportunity. The judging panel is comprised of booksellers, book industry professionals and aficionados, prominent educators, among other literary intellectuals. Books are nominated and are judged under the following top- level categories: Children and Young Adult Books Nonfiction - English Language Nonfiction - Spanish Language or Bilingual Fiction - English Language Fiction - Spanish Language Design The Mariposa Award: Excellence award for Latino author's first published work. Past Lifetime Achievement award-winning authors and publishers of note include: Octavio Paz, Victor Villaseñor (read more ...), Arte Publico Press (read more ...), Raquel Roque, and Santillana. 2003's Mariposa Award winner was Jerry J. Montoya (read more ...). This year's Latino Book Awards will be presented during BookExpo America 2004 taking place at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. The presentations will take place on June 3, 2004. Book Award Nomination Form »

	From Edward James Olmos
I want to personally thank you all for your continued support and for being a part of our family. I hope to be able to meet you at one of our upcoming Festivals. It has been a very busy period for our dedicated Festival team. Their hard work is taking the Festival in exciting new directions. We are looking forward to our 2004 Festivals and hope you are as well. Your input is important to us, so please use this forum to stay in touch with us and let us know your thoughts and ideas about your Festival.

	You Can Help
We hope you will use the "Forward email" feature below to spread the word about the Latino Book & Family Festival to your friends and business associates. Bring the cover page of this newsletter with you to the next LBFF in your area & receive 25% off all Festival merchandise available at the Information Booth.

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