Media Advisory

Contact: Sandra Fernandez
Manager of Public Relations
Houston Public Library
832.393.1381; cell 713.435.9448
sandra.fernandez@houstontx.gov

Houston Public Library Presents Writing & C/Siting Houston November Symposium: Houston Inside Out

WHAT: The Houston Public Library invites the community to the final event in the fall series of Houston Arts Alliance’s Writing & C/Siting Houston. Houston Inside Out will consider ways in which local writers, historians, folklorists and others share and make stories about special places in the city through their works and their words. This event is free and open to the public.

WHO: Bao-Long Chu, Roger Wood, Gwendolyn Zepeda, Robb Walsh and Rosellen Brown

WHEN: Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 1:00 to 3:30 pm.

WHERE: Central Library, 500 McKinney, 77002, 832-393-1313.

Houston Inside Out will explore the ways and especially “the wheres” through which Houston is known to and cherished by its residents. Three of the participants, Bao-Long Chu, Roger Wood, and Gwendolyn Zepeda, have already read pieces as part of the series and will use this opportunity to reflect on the literary placemaking process. Keynote speakers Robb Walsh and Rosellen Brown will join the conversation by contributing a new set of pieces.

Walsh, the state’s most noted Texas-centered food writer, has lived in Houston for over a decade and haunted the city’s neighborhoods in search of the its most diverse and distinctive fare. His presentation, “Longpoint Creole,” will take us on a food tour of a semi-suburban neighborhood where half a dozen ethnicities are intermingling, blurring boundaries and creating a cultural melange that is fast becoming the flavor of Houston.

Brown, the acclaimed author of ten books and currently on the faculty of the Art Institute of Chicago, spent a good part of the 80s and early 90s living and teaching in Houston. Her presentation, “An Inside Outsider in Houston,” will play off her migrant's perspective on the power of Houston as a place remembered and cherished.

About Writing & C/Siting
Writing & C/Siting Houston is produced by the Folklife & Traditional Arts Program of the Houston Arts Alliance in collaboration with The Cultural Enrichment Center of the University of Houston-Downtown and the Houston Folklore Archive of the University of Houston. Writing & C/Siting Houston is funded in part with support from the City of Houston Mayor's Special Initiative Program of the Houston Arts Alliance, Humanities Texas--the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Houston Endowment.

For more information on the Writing & C/Siting series, visit http://www.houstonartsalliance.com/folklife/writing-and-citing/.

About the Houston Arts Alliance
Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that exists to enhance the quality of life and tourism in the Houston region by supporting and promoting the arts through programs, initiatives and alliances. HAA distributes over $3.5 million in grants to approximately 250 nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists. In addition, HAA manages the city's civic art collection of 400 artworks, as well as new acquisitions.

About the Houston Public Library
The Houston Public Library (HPL) operates 35 neighborhood libraries, three HPL Express Libraries, a Central Library, the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, The African American Library at the Gregory School, and the Parent Resource Library located in the Children’s Museum of Houston. Serving more than 4 million customers per year, HPL is committed to excellent customer service and equitable access to information and programs by providing library customers with free use of a diverse collection of printed materials and electronic resources, Internet, laptop and computer use, and a variety of database and reference resources with live assistance online 24/7.

For further information, visit the Houston Public Library at www.houstonlibrary.org or call 832-393-1313.