2/1/17: Nasario Garcia, Rob Wilder, Estelle Laure Nasario García was born in Bernalillo, New Mexico and grew up in the Río Puerco valley southeast of Chaco Canyon. He has a BA in Spanish and an MA in Portuguese from UNM. He was awarded a Ph. D. in XIX century Spanish literature from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to that, he took doctoral courses at the University of Granada in Spain where he studied under the eminent linguist, Dr. Manuel Alvar, and Golden Age specialist Emilio Orozco Díaz. He also did graduate work in Portuguese at the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he met his wife, Jan Smith. Before his retirement, Dr. García taught at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Northern Illinois University and the University of Southern Colorado where he served as Assistant Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. While a university professor, he lectured extensively in this country and abroad—including Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Spain. As a scholar and creative writer, he has published 31 books. He has also translated five works, including a long novel. His latest books are all recent winners at the International Latino Book Awards. They include “Hoe, Heaven and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico,” “Grandpa Lolo’s Matanza: A New Mexico Tradition,” “Grandma Lale’s Tamales: A Christmas Story,” and “Grandpa Lolo’s Navajo Saddle Blanket” (these last three children’s books are bilingual). An Emeritus Professor of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Dr. García currently resides in Santa Fe with his wife Janice. Robert Wilder is the author of a novel, “Nickle”, and two critically acclaimed essay collections, “Tales From The Teachers’ Lounge” and “Daddy Needs A Drink,” both published by Delacorte Press. A teacher for twenty-five years, Wilder has earned numerous awards and fellowships, including the inaugural Innovations in Reading Prize by the National Book Foundation. He has published essays in “Newsweek,” “Details,” “Salon,” “Parenting,” “Creative Nonfiction,” plus numerous anthologies and has been a commentator for NPR’s “Morning Edition.” Estelle Laure is the author of young adult novels “This Raging Light,” which has been widely translated throughout the world, and the forthcoming “But Then I Came Back.” She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, is an agency associate at Folio Literary Management, and thinks everyone should have to wait tables or work in a kitchen at least once in their lives in order to be better people. She lives in Taos, New Mexico with her family where it is easy to believe in love and magic and the power of facing hard truths, which she does