Congratulations to the editorial board of Blue Mesa Review for the most recent issue of the literary magazine paying tribute to late Professor Emeritus Rudolfo Anaya (1937-2020). Mr. Anaya founded the magazine in 1989 and celebrated its 30th-anniversary in 2019, a year before his passing this past June 28. In light of Mr. Anaya’s death, Editor-in-Chief Mario Montoya wanted to honor him with two special features in the Winter 2020 and Spring 2021 issues of BMR. Please check out the latest issue at https://bmr.unm.edu.
The Winter 2020 Issue of BMR represents a collaboration across American Literary Studies and Creative Writing, with Faculty Advisor Lisa Chavez overseeing the production and Editor-in-Chief Mario Montoya collaborating with me, Associate Professor Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán. Mario and I worked to bring together two feature essays, one by Mr. Anaya’s niece, Belinda Henry, and a second by opera composer Héctor Armienta. Mr. Anaya’s unpublished 2016 poem, “The Pulse of Life” appears in-between these two essays, followed by the 2020 prize winnings in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. With fiction pieces by Mary Winsor and Khanh Ha; poetry by Kelly Weber and Stephanie Chang; and non-fiction pieces by Tess Fahlgren and Jeremy Kinter, the contents of this issue encounter both regional and existential questions of the human spirit that reach into the soul of the Southwest. With new and original art interspersed throughout the issue by Despy Boutris, Guilherme Bergamini, Jocelyn Ulevicus, Frederick Nitsch, and E.E. King, the Winter 2020 issue adds visual depth to the prize writings and makes for a truly special tribute to New Mexico’s beloved Chicano storyteller.
Stay tuned for another tribute issue in Spring 2021 and for the tenth annual Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya Lecture on the Literature of the Southwest on October 5, 2021, US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo will deliver the tenth annual lecture in the Journal Theater at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, located at 1701 4th Street SW in Albuquerque.
Visit the Anaya Lecture Series website at http://english.unm.edu/anaya. To donate, please visit the UNM Foundation website https://www.unmfund.org/fund/rudolfo-and-patricia-anaya-lecture-on-southwest-literature/.
Congratulations again to the BMR board. I encourage everyone to share issue no. 42 with your friends, family, and colleagues: https://bmr.unm.edu.
