Beginning Oct. 7 and running through Dec. 3, Eastern Connecticut University will lead a series of local events as part of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) annual “Big Read” program. Each year, the Big Read program selects a book for communities across America to read and engage; this year’s book is “Into the Beautiful North” by noted Mexican American author Luis Alberto Urrea. 

Eastern is one of 84 communities in the United States to receive an NEA grant, in partnership with Arts Midwest, to host Big Read in Willimantic. Most of the activities and events at Eastern will take place virtually. The public is invited. Admission is free.

The Big Read is designed to broaden understanding of the world, communities and human beings through the joy of reading. Eastern’s Big Read partners include the Willimantic Public Library, the Hispanic Alliance of Southern Connecticut and the City of New London, among others.

“Reading is a foundational life skill. If you cannot read, the simplest daily tasks — reading the ingredients on your child’s cereal box, taking a driver’s license test, following the instructions to assemble a household appliance — are impossible,” said Eastern President Elsa Núñez. “Without the ability to read, no other academic learning — mathematics, science, history — can take place. And few jobs, if any, are possible in today’s 21st-century economy without the ability to read. Reading enriches our lives. I look forward with anticipation to reading Luis Alberto Urrea’s “Into the Beautiful North.”

Eastern’s First Year Program has incorporated the book as required reading into the First Year Introduction seminar for all incoming freshmen. Students, faculty and staff across the university will engage with this timely novel and participate in campus-wide discussions, guest lectures, films and other programming related to the book.

In “Into the Beautiful North,” Urrea tells the story of an idealistic 19-year-old woman who is inspired by the film “The Magnificent Seven” to travel from her home in Mexico to the United States. Her goal is to convince a bunch of men who left her town to return and help protect it from drug dealers.

“This award gives our gallery a powerful story with which to voice our solidarity with people victimized by structural racism,” said Art Gallery Director Yulia Tikhonova. “Through our exhibitions and programs, we will feature Black and Brown artists of diverse media. ‘Into the Beautiful North’ stands for unity and action, as great art always does. Bertolt Brecht once said, ‘Hungry man, reach for the book — it is a weapon!’”

Tikhonova said the University will distribute 600 copies of this book in English and Spanish to community members.

Mark your calendars to participate and enjoy the list of exciting events below: 

On Oct. 7, at 3 p.m., Bessy Reyna, cultural critic, poet laureate for the Town of Bolton, will be reading her work and answering general questions. For more information, visit https://www.immigrantheritage.org/new-blog/2017/6/13/bessy-reyna  and http://bessyreyna.com/

On Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. on Zoom, David Antonio Cruz, a multidisciplinary artist and professor of painting and drawing at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, will discuss his practice, which fuses painting and performance to explore the visibility and intersectionality of Brown, Black and queer bodies. For more information, visit http://www.cruzantoniodavid.com/

 Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. also marks the kick-off of the opening exhibition in the Art Gallery of “The Future is Latinx,” which features 20 critically engaged artists who challenge the marginalized position of being foreigners in their own land. “The Future is Latinx” will be presented in two venues: Eastern’s Art Gallery from Oct. 8–Dec. 11 and the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut in New London from Sept. 25–Dec. 11. The exhibit brings together exceptionally talented and critically engaged artists who challenge denigrating myths about their Latin American identities, history and roots, unpack narratives of immigration twisted by politicians and media, and allow the public to see a true reflection of their lives and dreams. 

In New London on Saturdays in October (Oct. 3, 10, 17, 23 and 31), Eastern alumna Migdalia Salas, vice president of the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut, and educator and activist Mirna Martinez will lead a series of Zoom meetings titled “Mis Historias,” with immigrant Latinx students from New London High School reading Urrea’s book “Into the Beautiful North.” The students will engage in conversations and writing about their journeys and choose works from the exhibit to write about. www.hispanicalliance.net.

On Oct. 13, at 12:30 p.m., Martin Espada, who has been described as “Poet Laureate of our New America” and editor of the poetry anthology “What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump” (2019), will read a selection of recent his poetry. Espada will also appear on the Wayne Norman Show on WILI-AM on Sept. 22 at 7 a.m. to discuss his work. This year, Espada re-published 40 of his poems published previously by Curbstone Press, under the title “Poetry Like Bread.” http://www.martinespada.net/

On Oct. 13, at 11 a.m., Christine Garcia, assistant professor of English, will moderate a Zoom panel discussion in the Art Gallery featuring Robyn Greenly, professor of art history at the University of Connecticut, and Kerry Doyle, director and chief curator of the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso. The panel will discuss a large-scale, site-specific, participatory installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, titled “Border Tuner” (2019), which has connected the cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua using powerful searchlights and live sound channels across the United States-Mexico border. Video documentation of Border Tuner will be presented as part of “The Future is Latinx.” https://www.bordertuner.net/home

On Oct. 14, at 3 p.m. in the Art Gallery, Luis Alberto Urrea, celebrated author of “Into the Beautiful North,” will speak through Zoom about his prolific writing career. Urrea has published 14 books. He will share what it means when more than 100 cities and colleges have chosen his books for a community reading. For more information, visit http://luisurrea.com.

On Oct. 15, at 6 p.m., the Willimantic Public Library will host a teen book discussion. The library will also host adult programs on the themes of Urrea’s book at 11 a.m. on Oct. 20 and at 6 p.m. on Oct. 22.

On Oct. 21, at 3 p.m., Eastern will lead a community conversation with elected officials, DACA students and community stakeholders. The program will conclude with a musical performance by Eastern voice faculty and students, who wrote original music compositions to the poems of Latinx writers.

Also during October, the Big Read Program will unveil a mural project created on the CLICK Community Kitchen in Willimantic. The public mural is designed and painted by residents of Windham/Willimantic, under the guidance of Nicaraguan artist Alejandro de la Guerra. Guerra is currently artist in residence at El Instituto—the Institute of Latina/Latino, Caribbean and Latin American Studies at the University of Connecticut. Guerra’s work is supported by the Artist Protection Fund in New York City. Guerra’s mural is inspired by Nicaraguan folk artists/muralists who created nearly 300 murals in response to the revolution in 1979. Guerra will engage students from local schools and the community and conduct a workshop on the value of public art.

On Nov. 10, at 3 p.m., Christine Garcia, assistant professor of English, will moderate a panel discussion featuring artists Esteban Ramon Perez and Felipe Baeza. Perez and Baeza will discuss the multiplicity of Latinx and Chicano identity politics manifested in their artwork. Pérez, from Los Angeles, is an interdisciplinary artist-in-residence at NXTHVN (New Haven) https://www.nxthvn.com/. Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, Baeza incorporates painting and printmaking to examine how memory, migration and displacement work to create a state of a state of hybridity and fugitivity. Last year, Baeza was the artist-in-residence at NXTHVN.

Other events, with dates and times to be announced, include “The New Feminism,” which will be hosted by the Windham/Willimantic chapter of the NAACP and ACLU. The discussion will tie subjects in Urrea’s book to the issues of immigration, racism, escalating tensions on the border between Mexico and the United States, bravery and more. These discussions may be held in the Art Gallery and presented on Zoom. In addition, leaders of La Communidad Intellectual, in collaboration with El Instituto and the Puerto Rican and Latin American Cultural Center at the University of Connecticut, will host a series of discussions on Urrea’s book. Both groups support the success of first and second-year students at the University of Connecticut.

For more information on the Big Read Program, visit https://www.easternct.edu/big-read/index.html or contact Art Gallery Coordinator Yulia Tikhonova at tikhonovay@easternct.edu or call (860) 465.4625.