My name is bill miller, and i codirect the fall for the book festival. Whoo thank you very much. [laughter] i am so glad you all are here. First of all, let me a couple of housekeeping things. Cspan is here taping this evening, so that will be broadcast later. We will, that will include the question and answer session, so when we get to that portion, please come down to the microphone here on my left, and that will be lit so that if you ask the scintillating, brilliant question, youll be on cspan. The, we will, were going to do a little presentation, explanation, a couple of things here. Well try to move them along fairly quickly. But then well bring out sandra, and we know thats why youre here, and then we will have book sales and signing in the lobby afterward. Ive been involved with fall for the book since it was a Study Committee in 1998, and it was formed by the city of fairfax, Fairfax County library and a group of us here at mason. From those beginnings, fall for the book has always been a community effort, and we now have more than two dozen sponsors and more than two dozen additional people and agencies and organizations that are programming partners. And, of course, we have you. If you left home tonight not knowing that you were coming to a literary or a book festival, youre not alone. Often our festivalgoers come not to the festival itself, but to see or hear or meet a favorite writer. Thats okay with us. We hope its okay with you. Were glad to have you. In fact, we pretty much depend on you, and we hope that what this means is that you care broadly about books and that you want to live in a culture in which books and reading are given prominence. One of my friends, paulette miller, would like to talk to you for a moment about how you can help insure that fall for the book festivals actually happen in future years. Hi. As bill said, im paulette miller, and im the chair of the Development Committee for fall for the book. What the Development Committee does is we dont plan the wonderful programs, all of the great authors that are coming. We try to keep it, keep the programs coming by raising the funds that are needed. Fall for the book is a 501 c 3 , and that means that we rely on donations almost exclusively to keep this going. This is 18 years that bills been doing this. It grew from a oneday festival to a whole week. And we know that its an incredible resource to our community because of all the people that it touches. If youve looked at the pamphlet that you were handed when you came in, you saw it was a weeks worth of events going on all over the community. Not just here in the university, but everywhere from d. C. To louden county and in libraries and community centers. Programs for children and for teens and for poetry lovers. So it, we try to reach everybody. But we really do need everybody to make this happen. Weve founded, weve formed a friends of fall for the book, and some of you are familiar with friends groups. And what that group does is help to raise some of the funds that keep this festival going along with the corporate funds and the organizational funds. You know, when you hear we watch pbs and they say and viewers like you, you know . Thats you. And readers like you. Theres a pamphlet outside if you go out, when you go out for the book signing and all that tells you about the friends of fall for the book, and it tells you about some of the benefits to you which include invitations if you join us, invitations next year to the receptions for some of the authors. This year you could have, you could have joined us just recently, just a few minutes ago at a very lovely reception with sandra sisser cisneros. So the receptions are invitation only, and friends are invited. Theres free parking passes which, on campus, is a really big deal. [laughter] so if you have a moment, wed love for you to pick this up, take a look at what it takes to become a friend. Its not a lot. But what you do is show that the community is totally behind this, and that also helps us get corporate sponsors when you can say look at all the friends we have, all the members of the community who think this is important. And that encourages corporate sponsors to step up also. So we would love to have you become one of our friends, and please do pick this up, and we hope you fill it out and turn it in tonight. And if not, mail it to us. Thank you again for coming, and ill turn it over to kate. [applause] hello. Im here tonight because i represent the george mason friends, and we are one of the sponsors of this event. Contrary to the name, were not associated with the university. We are associated with Fairfax County public libraries. There is a branch called George Mason Regional Library in an nondale where we are holding a book sale at this moment to help raise funds for next year. So we have two more days. Please come. The other announcements i get to make, please turn off your cell phones. Dont put them on vibrate, we can hear that noise. Thank you for coming. Tonight is the last night for information for next years festival. Check the web site. And finally, fall for the book is a nonprofit, funded exclusively through donations, so follow the example, become a part of the great group of friends of fall for the book. Thankthank you. [applause] before i move into the presentation, i could spend a lot of time recognizing all the people that ive worked with in the last 12 months to make tonight possible and the preceding five nights possible. I will thank you individually later, now collectively. Theres one person i must thank, and and i hope you will join me in thank her, and thats cara oakleaf, my codirector. [applause] the fairfax prize was something that i had a hand in inventing. None of fall for the book is done by any one person. About 2003 our idea was to honor outstanding writers for their writerly achievements, if you will, in the areas of writing and publishing excellent works that contribute significantly to the american or International Culture of reading and writing and intellectual and emotional empathetic development. Generously giving their personal time and talents to the development of literature and literary endeavors, mentoring younger writers which includes but is not limited to teaching, giving special service to the community of writers such as editing anthologies or journals that give opportunities for publication to younger writers. Previous winners might be some names you would recognize including tobias wolf, joyce carol oates, Norman Mailer who, unfortunately, was ill and not able to come and accept it, mitch albom, anne padgett and last year in this very theater, tim obrien. And it rained last year on the presentation, so im not planning these things on rainy nights anymore. In the vein of these other writers, were very pleased to recognize Sandra Cisneros. Over course of a writing career that has spanned 30 plus years, her work has translated, has been translated into more than 20 languages, widely anthologized and read in classrooms throughout the world. The house on mango street has become a classic and is one of our defining books about coming of age and the experience of latino families in this country. Of course, the fairfax is not Sandra Cisneros first award. She was awarded a macarthur fellowship, two National Endowment for the arts fellowship and a texas medal for the arts. In addition to the house on mango street, her other works include caramello, have you seen marie, loose women and most recently, a house of my own stories from my life. I i am very pleased to present the 2016 fairfax prize to Sandra Cisnero to please join me in welcoming her to the stage. [applause] thank you all. Its an honor to be here and to receive this prize and to understand that this festival happens and has happened 17 times before. Did you see all the sponsors on the back of the program . Thats a lot of people. Well, somebodys doing their job well, and so i just want to commend all of the sponsors, all the volunteers, everyone who has worked to put this together. I think putting together any gathering where people read and understand one another as an act of peace in violent times is an act of peace in violent times, so congratulate yourself for being here. [applause] im just so excited. Its just an honor. Ive heard so much about this institution, and to be here as a guest is especially extraordinary for me. I was told theres a clock at the end of the room, and ill know okay, there it is. But they forgot that i cant see. You know, they did. [laughter] all right. I have two pairs of glasses, and i occasionally, so i can stay on task, change my glasses so i can see what time it is. You know, the wonderful thing about being a writer is you learn how to leap like a taiwanese acrobat and land on your feet at a moments notice. So imagine my surprise after i had left my house when i was told i was going to be talking about the writers life. And i thought, i am . Okay. And i have to admit i dont know anything about the writers life. [laughter] i only know about this writers life. And this writers life is very different from most writers. I am not affiliated with a university. Im just kind of always been a maverick. Ive made my living by inventing the path to become a writer. I was ashamed for a long time to tell people i wanted to become a writer because the neighborhoods i grew up in, the working class neighborhoods in chicago, id never really seen a writer. And, actually, by the time i got to high school, i met one, paul carroll. And he was invited to my class thanks to my poetry teacher. But i was the shyest person in the world and could never go up to talk to paul carroll and ask how did you do it. You know . So i think that for writers, were solitary creatures. Were shy. Theres a difference between being the writer and being the author. Tonight the author is here. The writer usually doesnt comb her hair laugh and doesnt get all dressed up and doesnt wear author jewelry or author look, you know . She stays at home and doesnt answer the phone and is very cranky. [laughter] but the author is patient and friendly and makes eye contact and shakes your hand [laughter] and i am my best self. So dont worry. [laughter] you dont have to worry. And usually were cranky as writers because were often in the dark when were writing. I think sometimes readers think we know what were doing when were writing. But the true story is were often writing towards the answer, and we dont know what the question is. So its often like a breach baby. Youre walking towards an answer, but you havent a clue what the question is. And you wont get the question until you write the answer. So its often this long process of pulling a thread and following it, following it, and you hope after a couple of years that you havent wasted your life and that youre on the right track. So thats why were crank can key and we dont answer the phone. Cranky. The author spends an inordinate amount of time if she can wash her clothes and have it dry for the next gig. Im in hotels a lot, and i have to figure things out that are very mundane and boring, so you dont want to hear about the author. But i am going to read a little bit and tell you how i wrote this as the writer, not the author. And this is from my new book, a house of my own stories from my life. I gathered together essays that are about the story of being a writer through 30 years of my life. I had to write some new ones. I also had to edit them and whittle them so there werent repetitions. But this one was written and published in the newspaper, a rare occurrence for me. I had this journalist envy, i have to say. The writers i admire the most are journalists like studs terkel [speaking spanish] just to name a few. And i admire them because theyre able to write things in a timely way and have it published immediately. They are, to me, what i think of when i think of the kind of writer i want to be. Someone who speaks up when no one else is speaking up on we half of on behalf of those who have no voice, those, a writer is someone whos courageous and able to tell a truth when no one else is speaking the truth. Im especially displayed post9 11 where we are and how much the media helped to create the state of fear were living in now. And i am a little disappointed that we dont acknowledge how much the press allows for racist comments and lies to be published when they ought to know better. So i think its good to have writers out there especially in times of [inaudible] which i call this era post9 11, an era of fear that is in our bodies. And its not just a u. S. Fear. Its a global fear that were seeing happening in many, many nations including in the country i live in, mexico. I am a dual citizen of mexico and the United States. And i think my job as a writer is to be a bridge between these two communities. I think we cant afford to wall ourselves off from our neighbor. Its just like if you had a neighbor who youre fighting with, if you dont talk to your neighbor, how are you going to get good relations, right . And theres a lovely quote that i like to remind my readers and my audiences. Within people and within countries, respect for your neighbor is peace. This was a quote by mexican president benito juarez, the only indigenous president of mexico. He was a contemporary and friend of abraham lincoln. You know, within individuals and within nations respect for your neighbor is peace. And i think living in mexico one of the messages that i want to bring to you is that the mexican people are also living in [speaking spanish] they are as afraid as we are. They are as disgusted with their politicians as we are. They are as distrustful of the police as we are. And i think the message the mexican people would like me to relay to you is would you please stop selling arms to thugs in mexico, and would you please stop buying drugs from the thugs in mexico, because this is supporting organized crime. We have a [inaudible] of violence in both countries due to the sale and consumption. And until we stop this, we will never be you are secure in our be secure in our own country. My brother lolo, whose real name is arturo, but my brother lolo has a neighbor who has bird feeders, a wonderful thing. But the neighbors started complaining that theres rats in the yard. And my brother said, well, i cant get rid of the rats unless you get rid of the bird feeders. So its the same concept. This is the only way that we will secure global borders if we ask our neighbors how can we make you safe, then i will be safe too. I want to share an essay i wrote from my father, one of the rare ones that got published in a newspaper. And its because i cant meet a deadline, thats why im not a journalist. But i try. And, you know, i also cant write, like if someone says why dont you write about i cant do that. I wish i could. But all i can do to explain my process is to say its like fishing. I can get up early, mend the nets, get my boat ready and row myself to an area where there are plenty of fish, but i cant guarantee my catch. Im just the fisherman, not the creator of fish. Its a matter of waiting. So anytime i write anything, i never know what im writing until its done. So this is something i wrote when i felt something very deeply. I wrote a long time ago in 1998, but its just as timely now in the age of [inaudible] that were living in. And it happened after my father died. The name of it is [speaking spanish] and it makes allusion to a song written by augustine lara. Do you know who that was . That was like the mexican cole porter, kind of. [speaking spanish] give me a little bit of your love, just a little bit of your love. Just that. [speaking spanish] when my father died last year, a piece of my heart died with him. My father, that supreme sentimental fool loved my brothers and me to excess in a kind of over the top fever, all arabesque and sugar spirals, as sappy and charming as the romantic mexican boleros he loved to sing. Give me just a little bit of your love at least, give me just a bit of your love. Just that. Music from my time, father would say proudly. And i could almost smell the gardenias and tres flores hair oil. Before my father died, it was simply cordiality that prompted me to say im sorry when comforting the bereaved. But with his death, i am initiated into the family of humanity. Im connected to all deaths and their survivors. Lo ciento which translates as both i am sorry and i feel it all at once. Lo ciento. Since his death, i feel life more intensely. My father, born under the eagle and serpent of the mexican flag, died beneath a blanket of stars and stripes, a u. S. World war ii veteran. Like most immigrants, he was overly patriotic, exceptionally hard working and, above all, a great believer in family. Yet often im aware that my fathers life doesnt count. Hes not history, not the americans the politicians mean when they talk about america. I thought of my father especially this holiday season, the day before christmas 1997, 45 unarmed mayans were slain while they prayed in a chapel in in [speaking spanish] 21 of them women, 14 children. The mexican president was shocked and promised to hold all those responsible accountable. The mexican people arent fooled. Everybody knows whos responsible. But its too much to wish for the mexican president to fire himself. I know the deaths are linked to me here in the United States. I know the massacre is connected to removing native people from their land because although the people are poor, the land is very rich, and the government knows this, and the mexican debt is connected to my High Standard of living. And the military presence is necessary to calm u. S. Investors, and the music goes round and round, and it comes out here. Ive been thinking and thinking about all this from my home in san antonio as fidgety as a person with an itch i cant quite scratch. What is my responsibility as a writer in light of these events . As a woman, as a [speaking spanish] as a u. S. Citizen who lives on several borders . What do i do as the daughter of a mexican man . Father, tell me. Ayada me. Help me, why dont you. Lo ciento. Ive been searching for answers. On christmas im reverberating like a bell. In my fathers house, hello, my friend, our christmas dinners were global feasts, a lesson in history, diplomacy and the capacity of the stomach to put aside racial grievances. [laughter] our holidays were a unique hybrid of cultures that perhaps could only happen in a city like chicago, a bounty contributed by family and intermarriage, multiethnic neighborhoods and the diversity of my fathers up upholstery shop employees. A typical meal consists first and foremost of tamales. 25 dozen for our family is typical. The popular red tamales, the fiery green tamales and the sweet pink ones filled with jam and raisins for the kids. Sometimes theyre my mothers homemade batch. This is the last time im going to m