Book Giveaway: Latin@ Lit Month

Hatchet Books is giving bloggers like yours truly the opportunity to give back to our readers through a book giveaway in honor of Latin@ Lit Month.

The Rules:

Tell me which three books from the list below you would like to have and why. Winner will be chosen at random. Deadline is May 31.

The Books:

Try to Remember By Iris Gomez

Hot (broke) Messes By Nancy Trejos

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter By Kathy Cano-Murillo

Little Nuggets of Wisdom By Chuy Bravo, Tom Brunelle

Lone Star Legend By Gwendolyn Zepeda

Into the Beautiful North By Luis Alberto Urrea

Amigoland By Oscar Casares

Restrictions

Sorry but the contest is open to U.S. and Canada only and books cannot be shipped to a Post Office Box.

More info

I will be reviewing some of the books on the list here on the blog as the month continues. You can also find out more about each book by clicking the links to Hatchet Books website.

Happy reading and good luck!

July Contest Winner Announced

Just wanted to say that Angelboy has won our free copy of Were the World Mine. His story about living in a conservative area with no access to queer films seems to fit with the overall theme of the Summer Pride giveaways and dovetails interestingly with the plot of the film.

To all those who wrote in for a chance, thanks for participating and I hope you all get a chance to see the movie, if you have not already. It isn’t my fav queer movie, but it does have some great musical scenes.

I will anounce the August giveaway on Monday. Stay tuned. 😀

Update on Giveaways

As part of a summer long Pride campaign to raise awareness about queer literature and film and expose new communities to our lesser advertised work here at the blog, we have been giving away videos and books written by and/or about GLBTQI folks. This month’s giveaway was supposed to be one my favorite campy good films about Chicanos, gentrification, and cross-cultural dating: East Side Story.  Unfortunately, the people who were supposed to come through with our free copy have gone out of business . . . (depressing I know.) I really want our next giveaway to be a Xueer one b/c next months giveaway is already set for a 1-4 book giveaway on the intersections of dis/ability and queerness. So I just wanted you to know that I am still working on the August giveaway plan, but fear not dear readers the July giveaway of Were the World Mine does not end until Friday, so there is time.

Were the World Mine Giveaway Extended

Since I was MIA last week and did not remind folks that our July giveaway was coming to an end, I am going to extend the giveaway of the gay musical loosely based on Shakespeare’s Mid summer Night’s Dream one week. You have until August 7th to write me a brief note as to why you should be the recipient of the free DVD, just include why you want it and how you’ll use it. (And yes, it is perfectly ok to say you just want to sit in your house and watch it with friends.)

July Giveaway: Were the World Mine

For July, we will be giving a way a brand new copy of Speak Video’s Were the World Mine (2009):

In this queered version of a Midsummer Night’s Dream, high school student Timothy discovers Oberon’s magic potion while studying for his part as Puck in his high school’s upcoming production of the Shakespeare play. Not realizing what he has discovered at first, Timothy makes a similar mistake as Puck by bewitching his bestfriend’s boyfriend but soon he is intentionally using the potion to combat homophobia in his small town. (The potion turns people gay or lesbian & or awakens their existing queer desires.) As the town finds itself becoming increasingly queer, Timothy is faced with a decision: risk the boy he loves (and has bewitched) to reverse the spell or keep a love that may only exist b/c of fairy dust. The outcome will not surprise most but it is a happy ending for several of the characters and the awakening many of them needed.

The movie also has several dance and song numbers mostly taking place in Timothy’s imagination and involving many of the jocks in his school. The best of these is actually sung as during rehearsal and featured prominently in the trailer above.

If you are interested in owning the movie, you can leave a comment here or on twitter (mark it private and we won’t post it, but we will ask to give a synopsis when we announce the winners):

1. why you want the movie
2. what you will use it for

The contest is open to everyone. 😀

Exile and Pride: Book Giveaway Winner

Thanks to all who wrote both public and private requests for our first book giveaway. I’m glad you all continued to send in your requests despite all of the chaos here at the spot lately. 😀

I just wanted to say to all of you that your stories about why this book would mean something to you, your students, or your friends were truly moving and I wish more of you would have been willing to share those with the rest of the blog.

Our book winner is long time reader/lurker: Anna M.

Anna intends to use the book in a reading group she is starting at her newly opened feminist lending room ( a small room off a coffee shop donated by the coffee shop owner, that will house a lending library of feminist texts). The book will be the first queer feminist disability addition to their lending room and will be the inaugural book in their reading group. Anna hopes it will heal some wounds in her community amongst organizers and encourage diverse groups to participate in the building and sustaining of the feminist lending room.

I wish her and her group the very best. 😀

You can learn more about Exile and Pride here or order it here

Free Book: Eli Clare’s Exile and Pride

Rather than post my multi-culti Pride pic again this weekend, I am offering readers a chance to get a free copy of Eli Clare’s Exile and Pride on (my favs) Southend Press. The book address a number of topics including sexuality, dis/ability, rural and urban divides, the class assumptions embedded in whiteness and queerness, gender, and so much more. I will be posting a longer review of the book as part of the series on dis/ability and queerness started here two weeks ago (I know I’m late in posting) but until then, you can read the description of the text at the link above. If you are in Arizona, you can also meet the author at the Society for Disability Studies Conference going on right now.

If you want a chance at the book, all you have to do is tell me why you want the book AND how you will use it in your own life and/or community to raise awareness about diversity and (gay) pride.

(Our next Pride give away will be a DVD bundle for the boys: Were the World Mine, Latter Days, Shelter, & Boy Culture)