Chavez To Speak At Thompson Lecture

10/15/02

DENTON — Author Denise Chavez will be the speaker at the Joyce Thompson Lectureship in American Literature and Culture, Oct. 29 at 2:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Classroom and Laboratory Building, located near the intersection of Bell Avenue and East College Street, at Texas Woman's University. Admission is free.

Chavez, a novelist, short story writer, playwright, actress and teacher, is the author of Face of an Angel, which won the Premio Aztlan and the American Book Awards (1995) and a new novel, Loving Padro Infante, which is now being translated into Spanish and German. She is a recipient of the 1995 New Mexico Governor's Award in Literature. She frequently tours with her one-woman show, Women In the State of Grace, throughout the United States.

She is also a regular contributor to New Mexico Magazine, Latina Magazine and other publications. She is currently working on a novel titled The King and Queen of Comezon and a collection of essays called "Stories From My Third World Backyard."

Chavez has been working on a project called La Frontera Divina, gathering oral histories from senior citizens and their families in the historic Mesquite Street district in Las Cruces, a barrio known as "Chiva Town."

Chavez earned her B.A. in drama from New Mexico State University and two master's degrees — an M.F.A. in drama from Trinity University and M.A. in creative writing from the University of New Mexico.

The Joyce Thompson Lectureship in American Literature and Culture is an annual event honoring the memory of Dr. Joyce Thompson, professor of English, who served as a member of the TWU faculty from 1977 until her death in 1992 at the age of 48. She was the founder of the "Women and American Literature" course at TWU as well as the founder of the "Ethnic Literature" course.

Author of more than 30 published works, her major writings included Marking A Trail: A History of the Texas Woman's University, Texas Women: The Myth/The Reality and Ladies' Firsts: A Miscellany.

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For Further Information Contact:

Roy Kron
Director of News and Information
Tel: (940) 898-3456
e-mail: rkron@twu.edu