Dear lovers of books, I want to take this opportunity to share a few of my upcoming presentations and book readings with you. First, I have been invited by the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center in San Antonio at the end of February to talk about my newest publication, and they placed In the Shadows of the Freeway: Growing Up Brown & Queer on the cover of their organization newsletter, La Voz de Esperanza. Locally, Hotel Congress is hosting a Book Reading for me on Saturday, March 7th at 6 PM. Fellow tucsonense and friend, Richard Elias has agreed to emcee the event and I and a few others will read from the book. The Hotel Congress is providing free snacks, but more importantly, there is a distinctive connection with the hotel and my Tio Arturo Otero, a photographer. A section in Chapter 1 is dedicated to my uncle and his job at the Hotel Congress in the 1960s. (You can access more information about the event on Facebook.) The Tucson Festival of Books also takes place in March and Nuestra Raices, an initiative of the Pima County Library that celebrates and honors the culture, voice, and linguistic heritage of Latinx and Spanish-speaking communities invited me to be part of their venue. I’ll be presenting at a panel titled “Rooted in Place” and it is scheduled for Saturday, March 14th at 2:30 PM at the Nuestras Raices Stage. If you plan to attend the Festival of Books, consider attending this session and look for my books at the UA Bookstore. I also want to share that at the end of last year, the Tucson Weekly selected In the Shadows of the Freeway as one of Twenty Good Reads of 2019. If you are interested in purchasing additional copies, the book is available at a few local locations: Petroglyphs in the MSA Annex (next to the Mercado) and at Antigone Books on 411 N. 4th Avenue. A new vendor, Chulas-Arte, Gifts Y Más also now carries the book. Of course, you can also purchase it directly from the publisher, Planet Earth Press. I hope to see you at one of my events and thank you for the support you have given me and my publications, Lydia