Prose Café: Cynthia Simmons, Carolyn Studer, Duncan Tonatiuh

Prose Café Bellas Artes
Cynthia Simmons, Carolyn Studer, Duncan Tonatiuh

Thursday, October 3, 5:00 – 6:00 PM

Sala Literaria, 1st Floor
 El Centro Culturál Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante”
Hernández Macías 75

Suggested Donation $50 pesos

Outside Our Comfort Zones: Race, Injustice, and More

Please join us on October 3, when Prose Café is honored to present three gifted local writers with work that tackles the challenging issues of race, injustice, and more.

Before moving to San Miguel in 2005, Cynthia Simmons lived in Atlanta, New York City, and, briefly, in New Orleans. She has worked in book production and in theatre— both as an actor and producer, touring internationally with her one-woman show, Sally of Monticello. Simmons managed jazz musician Cassandra Wilson and produced the concert The Sacred and Secular Music of Mary Lou Williams at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Writing has been her creative focus since she completed her MFA in 2005. Simmons will read an excerpt from her memoir, Moving Outside.

Carolyn Studer is a freelance writer and racial justice activist originally from Los Angeles, California. She is currently writing a memoir about race in America that focuses on her father’s civil rights work on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. A founding member and writer for Conversationswith.net, an organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalized people, Studer is also an ordained Presbyterian minister and an accomplished musician who has lived in San Miguel fulltime for two years.

Duncan Tonatiuh (toh-nah-tee-YOU) is both Mexican and American. An author and an illustrator, his books have received multiple accolades, among them the Pura Belpré Medal, the Sibert Medal, The Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Children’s Book Award, The Américas Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award and the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award. Tonatiuh grew up in San Miguel de Allende, went to the U.S. as a teenager, and graduated from Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College in New York City. His artwork is inspired by Pre-Columbian art, particularly that of the Mixtec codices. His aim is to create images and stories that honor the past, but that are relevant today. You can visit his website at http://duncantonatiuh.com/

Prose Café Bellas Artes, founded this year and run by volunteers, offers monthly readings of excellent prose, September to April. Please arrive a few minutes early, seating is limited.

###  [As attachments, please find photos of Simmons, Studer, and Tonatiuh.]