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An Evening Celebrating the Resilience of the Human Spirit New Orleans Hilton Riverside Hotel Napoleon Ballroom June 23, 2006 ♦♦♦ 7:30 pm Reception and Book Signing Follow Many Voices, One Nation @ your library ® was originally conceived by ALA Past President Carol Brey-Casiano as a means of celebrating diverse literary voices and the unifying role that libraries play in building a literate nation. This program is brought to you by the Office for Diversity with support form the Committee on Diversity, the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, the ALA Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table and ALA President Michael Gorman. Program Performance …………………………... Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians Welcome by Master of Ceremonies ………………………………………. José Aponte Authors and Performers Listed in Order of Appearance: Martin Pousson Kimberly Willis Holt Lisa Sandell Kalamu Ya Salaam Jose Torres Tama Intermission ……………………………Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians Etan Thomas New Orleans Neighborhood Stories Project authors: Ashley Nelson and Abram Shalom Himelstein Greg Herren Lee Maitzen Grue Ron Gauthier Toni Simmons Special Thanks to 2006 Many Voices, One Nation Coordinating Committee: Victor Schill (Chair); Tarshel Beards, Toni Bissessar, Elise Browne, Debra Gold, Kimberly Guise, Tracie Hall (ALA Staff Liaison), Cristina Hernandez, Damian Lambert, Michelle McFarland, Molly Morris, Robin Osborne, V. Tessa Perry, Gwendolyn Prellwitz, Gail Schlacter, Bette Thompson, and Sue Wortman. Biographical Statements Master of Ceremonies José Aponte is director of the San Diego County Library system. His mother, a library administrator, planted the seeds of his twenty-eight year career in libraries when she gave him his first job (at the age of eight) reading stories to children who could not read. In 2002, Aponte received a White House appointment to the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries Advisory Council and in 2004 a Presidential appointment to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences. More recently, Aponte received the REFORMA 2004 Trejo Librarian of the Year Award for “outstanding library work, locally and nationwide…and the promotion of Latino culture”. Many Voices, One Nation Authors and Performers By Order of Appearance: The Mardi Gras Indian tradition as preserved by the Guardians of the Flame has been carried on in the New Orleans African American community since the 1880s. Participants attribute its origin to the bonds forged between African Americans and Native Americans during slavery when local Native Americans welcomed, accepted, and sheltered run-away slaves. In homage to this humanitarianism free blacks and former slaves began to synthesize African and Native American traditions in their dance and masquerade traditions. The Guardians of the Flame, Mardi Gras Indian Tribe was organized by Donald Harrison, Sr. in 1988. Mr. Harrison has been involved with the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tradition since 1949 and has served as Chief of the Creole Wild West and White Eagle Tribes. The Guardians include three generations of Harrisons. Cajun author, Martin Pousson was born and raised in Acadiana, in Louisiana. His acclaimed first novel, No Place, Louisiana , was a finalist for the John Gardner Award in Fiction and has been translated into French. He has taught at Columbia and Rutgers Universities before returning to New Orleans to teach at Loyola University and lives in New Orleans. In 2005, Pousson’s first book of poetry, Sugar, was published by Suspect Thoughts Press. Kimberly Willis Holt’s first novel, My Louisiana Sky , was an ALA Notable Book and an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. It also received a Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor Award. Her second novel , When Zachary Beaver Came to Town , won the National Book Award. She is also the author of Keeper of the Night. Lisa Ann Sandell is the author of The Weight of the Sky , a young adult novel in verse published by Viking Children’s Books in 2006. She is also a senior editor for Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., and teaches creative writing at Hunter College. Ms. Sandell has lived in Jerusalem, Israel, where she worked as a journalist. She now resides in New York City with her husband. Kalamu Ya Salaam is founder of the legendary NOMMO Literary Society and Runagate Press, which focuses on New Orleans and African-heritage cultures worldwide. Salaam is the leader of the WordBand, a poetry performance ensemble that combines poetry with blues, jazz and other forms of music. Salaam has produced seven books of poetry. Recent works include the spoken word CD "My Story, My Song" (AFO Records) and his latest book, What Is Life? (Third World Press). A respected music writer and critic, he is the arts and entertainment editor for The New Orleans Tribune and has been a regular contributor to Wavelength , The Louisiana Weekly and The New Orleans Music Magazine . Jose Torres Tama is an Ecuadorian-born writer and performance artist based in New Orleans. Tama has been profiled on National Public Radio and is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has written for ART PAPERS , a national arts magazine, the Chicago New Art Examiner , The Mexico City Times , and Urban Latino His poetry has been published in From A Bend in The River, an anthology of 100 New Orleans poets and in the Mesechabe Surregional Press. NBA basketball star Etan Thomas is More Than An Athlete (Moore Black Press, 2005). First round draft pick in 2000 and Washington Wizards team member, he’s been called a “rebounder with a cause.” With the release of More Than An Athlete his first collection of poems, Thomas defies the stereotype of the apolitical athlete, and plants his roots in the tradition of such athlete-activists as Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, and Bill Russell. Ashley Nelson of the New Orleans-based Neighborhood Story Project is a senior at John McDonogh Senior High and the author of The Combination , a book about her life in public housing and her close-knit community. She has tutored students at elementary schools in her neighborhood, won poetry contests, and introduced public education advocate Jonathan Kozol when he spoke at Loyola University in the fall of 2004. Abram Shalom Himelstein comes to the Neighborhood Story Project by way of writing and publishing several books, including 1998's Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing . He has taught in New Orleans Public Schools since 2001, while moonlighting on projects such as the New Orleans Bookfair and receiving his MFA from the University of New Orleans. Abram is employed by the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans, working on Literacy Projects including One Book, One New Orleans. Greg Herren , New Orleans based writer and journalist. Has served as editor of the Lambda Book Report , book reviewer for Southern Voice , and has written for publications as varied as Genre, Gay and Lesbian Review, Gulf Coast Arts Review, Where New Orleans, Fitness Plus and LA Frontiers . His fiction has appeared in the anthologies Men for all Seasons, Friction 4 and 5, and Rebel Yell 2 . Lee Maitzen Grue is a jazz poet who lives and writes in New Orleans. Her work has appeared in Xavier Review, Louisiana Literature, Quimera and Ploughshares and in the anthology, Inheritance of Light . She is the author of Three Poets in New Orleans (Xavier Review Press, 2000), Live! On Frenchmen Street (Cyberstudio, 2000), and a novel Good Bye Silver, Silver Cloud (Plain View Press, 1994). Ronald M. Gauthier was a life-long resident of New Orleans. Before he became a novelist, he worked as a social service counselor, adult education instructor, and a New Orleans Public Library branch manager. Gauthier’s novels, Prey for Me: A New Orleans Mystery and Hard Time on the Bayou , are shaped by his love for his home city. His experience as an educator in Louisiana’s prisons influences his storytelling. Gauthier currently resides in Atlanta where he is working on a sequel to Prey for Me and a book based on his own experiences during Hurricane Katrina. Winner of the Parents' Choice and the Parent Council Award For Excellence in Children's Video, Dallas, resident, Toni Simmons is a master storyteller. A former children's librarian and drama teacher, Simmons has been featured on the Good Morning Texas TV Show, and at the Texas Library Association, the Texas Storytelling Festival, and has performed in 13 states, South Africa, the Bahamas, and Germany. Called an exuberant performer by Booklist, Simmons will hold you spellbound. .

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