And the International Latino Book Award Goes To...

HOUSTON, TX June 2009—The 11th Annual International Latino Book Awards were announced at BookExpo America in New York on May 28, 2009, and three titles published by Arte Público Press were named winners: The Case Runner (Arte Público Press, 2008) by Carlos Cisneros won for Best Mystery Novel–English, Crazy Loco Love (Arte Público Press, 2008) by Victor Villaseñor won for Best Biography–English, and Sangre en el desierto: Las muertas de Juárez (Arte Público Press, 2008) written by Alicia Gaspar de Alba and translated by Rosario Sanmiguel won for Best Mystery–Spanish or Bilingual.

Latino Literacy Now created the Latino Book Awards in 1999 to recognize the many positive contributions being made to Latino literature by publishers and writers worldwide. The title of the awards was changed to the International Latino Books Awards in 2006 to reflect the nominations of literary works from Mexico, Central and South America, and Spain. These awards honor literary excellence in a variety of categories. Latino Literacy Now is a non-profit organization that supports and promotes literacy and literary excellence within the Latino community.

For a list of all the winner, please click here.

In THE CASE RUNNER, Alejandro “Alex” del Fuerte, fresh out of law school, is returning home to South Texas to open his solo practice. He’s got dreams of making his mark in the world and in the courtroom. But when he meets Porfirio “Pilo” Medina, who just crossed the border in search of his wife and son, Alex is suddenly dragged into a world of wrongdoings and political pay-offs rarely covered in law school. As Alex’s lofty ideals and dreams are dashed, and his own ethics and morals come into question, rampant corruption and big-money politics churn against the rich backdrop of border culture. And Alex, something between saint and sinner, is an apt guide to both the light and dark sides of the region.

A powerful portrait of a young boy on the path to manhood in the shadow of his influential father, CRAZY LOCO LOVE is Victor Villaseñor’s compelling memoir of his adolescent search for meaning and identity. Growing up on his parents’ ranch in North San Diego County, Victor Villaseñor’s teenage years were marked by a painful quest to find his place in a world he didn’t fit into. Raised in a tight-knit, Catholic family, he questions the tenets of his Catholic faith and the restrictions it places on his own developing spirituality and sexuality. Victor’s quest for self-discovery takes him to Mexico where he ultimately learns to appreciate his own potential and realize his dreams of making a difference in the world through writing.

SANGRE EN EL DESIERTO: LAS MUERTAS DE JUÁREZ is acclaimed poet and prose-writer Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s Spanish-translated thriller that ponders the effects of patriarchy, gender identity, border culture, transnationalism, and globalization on an international crisis. It’s the summer of 1998 and for five years more than a hundred mangled and desecrated bodies have been found dumped in the Chihuahua desert outside of Juárez, México, just across the river from El Paso, Texas. The perpetrators of the ever-rising number of violent deaths target poor young women, terrifying inhabitants on both sides of the border. El Paso native Ivon Villa is unwittingly thrown into the chaos of abuse and murder, and her investigation points to a chilling conspiracy.