Contents Chicago Festival Remains in Cicero Tele Guia de Chicago Serves as Festival Co-Host for the Sixth Year Houston Festival a Huge Success About the Producer You Can Help

We are pleased to present Issue 8 of Noticias del Festival. We hope you are enjoying these monthly newsletters. Latino Literacy Now appreciates your continued support of our efforts to reduce illiteracy and promote literary excellence while advancing the cause of reading in the Latino Community. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Chicago Festival Remains in Cicero

Located in the heart of Chicago's Latino community, Cicero has been an excellent location for four of our first five Chicago area shows (1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003). All of those events were held at Sportsman's Park which is now being torn down to make way for a new convention center, scheduled for completion hopefully in time for next year's event.

In the meantime, we have found a great location at a facility called the Unity School and will be returning to Cicero for the 6th Annual Chicago Latino Book & Family Festival. For Cicero officials, the four-story Unity School on the north end of town is a shining solution to the problems of overcrowded schools. Unity is so big it has a museum-size lobby and a gym that looks more like a professional sports arena.

We are happy to be back in Cicero and look forward to a great event. If last year's crowds are any indication, look for more than 20,000 attendees to fill this facility on the weekend of November 27-28.

And remember, this Festival is a great place to get a head start on your Christmas shopping. See you there!

More About Chicago Latino Book & Family Festival

	Tele Guia de Chicago Serves as Festival Co-Host for the Sixth Year
When the Latino Book & Family Festival first decided to take the show on the road, Chicago was first on the list of potential venues. And that was due to our long prior relationship with Zeke and Rose Montes, and their publication, Tele Guia de Chicago. We knew we needed a local presence to guide us through Chicago and we also knew the ideals and mission of the Festival would be in no better hands. Zeke Montes is a product of the Chicago school system and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War in 1969-1971. After returning, he began his career in sales and made his first attempt as an entrepreneur in the restaurant business. After a few years, he became acquainted with Hispanic Print Media and closed the restaurant to pursue a career in Spanish print. In 1985, Mr. Montes began his own publication unique to the Hispanic Community, "Tele Guia de Chicago", a Spanish TV Guide and entertainment magazine. In 1999, he acquired another publication, "El Imparcial", a Chicago based Spanish newspaper. With more than 19 years as a publisher, Mr. Montes has made it a priority to help the Latino community. He has been District chair for the Chippewa District of the Boy Scouts, has served on the board of the Norwegian American Hospital for 15 years, led two medical missions to Mexico, and has been involved with 5 local chambers in different positions at various times. There is a great team in place at Tele Guia that continues to produce outstanding Latino Book & Family Festivals, year after year. Our thanks go out to Martha Saldana, Mariela Conongo, Ang=E9lica Chávez, José Luis Cruz, Manuel Villalobos, Leticia Alonzo, Lilia Calderon, Odeth Mendoza, Christina Piotrowski, Patricia Montes, Abel Chávez, José Luis Cruz, Chris Montes and of course, Rose and Zeke Montes. For more information ... »

	Houston Festival a Huge Success
Successful Houston Latino Book & Family Festival brings national total to 30 Festivals and more than 500,000 attendees over the past 8 years With weekend crowds of over 30,000 the recent Houston Latino Book & Family Festival can be considered a complete success on many levels. Special Guest of Honor at the Houston event, that took place at the George R. Brown Convention center on October 16-17, was comedian/author George Lopez who spoke and signed his new book, Why You Crying? My Long, Hard Look at Life, Love, and Laughter. Barnes & Noble Booksellers, a major sponsor of the Book Village at the Houston Festival, had more than 1,000 copies of his book on site, and Mr. Lopez stayed until the last book was sold and signed. Other special literary guests included Univision news co-anchor and author Maria Antonieta Collins, MLS Star and former Los Angeles Galaxy player Mauricio Cienfuegos, Xavier Garza, Lorraine Lopez, Neo Franco Cantu and Diane Bertrand. Giselle Blondet, co-host of Univision's Spanish language morning show, Despierta America, also spoke to the crowd and signed her books. Ms Blondett echoed Festival organizer's sentiments exactly when she mentioned, "I get so upset when I hear people say that Latinos don't read. I believe this turnout dispels that notion entirely." Festival co- producer Edward James Olmos, was on hand to introduce George Lopez and to rally the crowd to the Festival's main theme that reading is important and can make a difference in a young person's life. Co-hosts for the Houston Festival are Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say and Pancho Claus Scholarship & Art Fund. For the third straight year the Houston Latino Book & Family Festival was honored to have the Houston Chronicle as Presenting Sponsor. The Chronicle has proved to be an excellent partner and has been instrumental in the initial growth of this event - the largest literary event in the State of Texas for 2004. Other major sponsors for the 2004 Houston Festival included Nestle, Western Union, Chase Home Finance, Selecciones: Readers Digest en Espa=F1ol, Barnes & Noble, Continental Airlines, CenterPoint Energy, Nick Jr., Rice University, H-E-B Stores, Univision 45, The Girl Scouts of the USA, Houston PBS 8, Christus St. Joseph Hospital, KTRK-TV ABC 13, Harris County Public Library, Houston Public Library, Houston Community College, Amerigroup, the Greensheet, The Houston Calendar, NHPO, CACHH, K- LOVE-106.5, 102.9 Estereo Latino, 90.1 KPFT and Telefutura 67.

	About the Producer
New Edward James Olmos Latino Literacy Scholarship Funded Latino Literacy Now and the California Space Grant Foundation (CSGF) have announced the formation of the Edward James Olmos Latino Literacy Scholarship Fund. The announcement was made at the CSGF's National Council of Space Directors annual meeting on Friday evening, October 22, at the Athenaeum in Pasadena, California. The scholarship fund got off to a flying start with a startup donation of $10,000 from the California Space Grant Foundation. The fund was created to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Literacy in the Latino Community and to honor the efforts Edward James Olmos has made on behalf of all of America's youth and Educators. Mr. Olmos was on hand at the event and received the organization's first annual Man of the Year award for "Outstanding Achievement Award for a Lifetime of Devoted Work in Education and Latino Literacy" and spoke to the crowd of over 400 about the importance of promoting literacy within the Latino community. In attendance, in addition to Foundation Directors from across the country, were officials from NASA HQ in Washington as well as the Johnson Space Center near Houston, JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) in Pasadena and two former students of Jaime Escalante, the Math Teacher, immortalized on film by Edward James Olmos. John Monte, manager of the California Space Grant Foundation's Philanthropy & Communications division, nominated Mr. Olmos for the award and was also instrumental in the creation of the scholarship fund. Mr. Monte's management firm Titan-Wind-Rush will administer the fund. Anyone interested in making donations can contact them at 619-817-5806 or TheFirstStep@yahoo.com. Information is also available at our offices. Please call 760-434-4484 We will be working closely with NASA, Titan-Wind-Rush and the California Space Grant Foundation this coming year to promote and increase the Scholarship Fund and to create new, exciting programs to benefit schools in the communities the Latino Book & Family Festival serves. Watch our web site in the coming months for exciting news.

	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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