NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE - anthology book release/reception/booksigning this Friday, Mar.31st

March 27, 2006

Contact:

Tammy Gomez
817.924.9188
sound_culture@hotmail.com

Gracey Tune
817.923.9500
artsfifthavenue@aol.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

++++ Fort Worth-published NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, anthology which commemorates Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda,
features local writers and scholars ++++


==> Reception and reading from the anthology, followed by booksigning, scheduled for Friday, March 31st--as part of
Spring Arts Goggle 2006--at 7pm at Arts Fifth Avenue in FW. (Free and open to the public.)

Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc. and Sound Culture/Tejana Tongue Press (community arts organizations in Fort Worth), announce the
release of the innovative anthology NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, which was co-published by both organizations--with funding from Humanities Texas.

NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, which features new poems and essays by local writers, is a tribute to the legacy and literary
influence of esteemed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda--whose 100th birth anniversary was celebrated worldwide from
2004-2005. As part of this anniversary celebration, Fort Worth organizations Sound Culture/Tejana Tongue Press and Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc. coordinated a year-long program of literary readings, documentary film screenings, and community lectures throughout Tarrant County.

The program culminated with the publication of the anthology, which features introductions by each contributing writer,
describing the influence and impact that Neruda has had on their own literary and/or personal life. The year-long program,
in fact, referred to Neruda as a “global citizen” whose experiences led him to write about the cultures and peoples he encountered around the world. In the “post-911 world”, writers cannot help but reflect the tenor and spirit of the times, and the anthology demonstrates this with poems evoking compassion and sensitivity to issues and concerns of this decade.

Gracey Tune, founder/director of Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc., is renowned nationally as an accomplished tap dancer and
promoter of tap dancing history and performance. Ms. Tune has one poem featured in NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE--her first publishing credential--which was inspired by Neruda’s BOOK OF QUESTIONS. Quoting Ms. Tune from the anthology: “His [Neruda’s] work encourages the poet within us...”

The anthology will be released publicly at Arts Fifth Avenue (1625 5th Avenue in the historical Fairmount district), on
Friday, March 31st, at 7pm. Contributing writers will read selections from the book, followed by a reception and booksigning.

There will be no admission charged for this event, but copies of NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE will be available for sale to the public.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE: poems, essays, testimonios
in tribute to Pablo Neruda

edited by Tammy Melody Gomez

contributors and titles

Gracey Tune - “Questions from the Lake”
Greg Johnson - “Improvised Tribute Poem”
m.m. harris - “I like not knowing” and “Ode to a Green Pen”
Jeannette L. Strother - “Ode to Honeysuckle”
Claudia Acosta - “Para nuestras perdidas muertas”
cesar hernandez - “My dear, Neftali!”
Geethanjali - “A Leader of World Literature”
Susan Vogel Taylor - “Mindlessness and Infinity” and
“Sisters of the Fertile Moon”
Marc Rains - untitled
Josh Khatena - “Neruda, a word”
Tammy Gomez - “in this love”
Helen S. Jones - “Pablo, Jr.”
Robert Wynne - “Ode to the Belt”
Patricia Greene - “Caracolas”
Dr.Teresa Marrero - “Pablo Neruda, ‘Global Citizen’”