BOOK NOTES
AUTHOR EVENT AT BOOKWORKS
Albuquerque’s Margaret Randall will read from and sign copies of her new poetry collection “Home: Poems” and her new essay collection “Luck” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28.
In an author’s note, Randall explains that the poems “… move through my own memories and stories others have told me, to include testimony by those who suffer homelessness, a condition that — to our shame — has caused overwhelming proportions. In an age of unsettling displacement and monstrous migrations, home can be elusive.”
The publisher is Casa Urraca Press of Abiquiú. Chicana poet Sandra Cisneros is quoted in a blurb on the front cover as commenting, “This book is a homecoming. I celebrate with you.”
The essays in “Luck” address an array of subjects, including death, lies, memory, language, food, war … and luck. The front-cover illustration and the drawings in the book are by artist Barbara Byers of Albuquerque.
Randall is a feminist poet, essayist, oral historian, translator, photographer and social activist. She is the author of more than 200 books and the recipient of many literary awards in Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador and the United States. From 1962 to 1969 Randall and Mexican poet Sergio Mondragón co-edited the bilingual literary quarterly El Corno Emplumado/The Plumed Horn that published the work of more than 700 writers from 35 countries. Her website is margaretrandall.org.
Bookworks is located at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW.
AUTHOR HAS EVENTS AT SYMPOSIUM IN AND NEAR SILVER CITY
A. Thomas Cole will give a brief presentation on his new book at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, at the Global Resource Center Auditorium at Western New Mexico University in Silver City. The book is titled “Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch: How Healing a Southwest Oasis Holds Promise for Our Endangered Land.” Cole is one of four people talking about conservation and habitat restoration.
Then at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, Cole is on a panel discussing “citizen science.” This discussion is in Room 111, Harlan Hall on the WNMU campus.
On Friday, March 1, Cole will co-lead a talking-walking tour of the City of Rocks State Park with Steve Morgan as part of an Aldo Leopold Chautauqua. Those interested in the tour should meet at 8 a.m. in the south parking lot of the WNMU Fine Arts Building.
The events are part of the biennial Natural History of the Gila Symposium and are free and open to the public. Cole and his wife Lucinda own the Pitchfork Ranch, south of Silver City.
NEW PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY SUPPORT BOOK
Dr. Florian Birkmayer and Cathy Skipper, both of Taos, are the authors of the newly-published book “Essential Oils for Psychedelic Therapy Support: An Introduction to AromaGnosis Method.” It is billed as a practical guide for incorporating aromas, in the form of essential oils, to enhance ketamine and psychedelic aroma therapy, based on the authors’ years of experience. “The transformational use of aromas, without ketamine and psychedelic assisted therapy” is also discussed in the book. Contact the authors at aromagnosis.com/ about-us.
NEW NOVEL BY LAS CRUCES RESIDENT
Lynn Underwood is the author of the novel titled “Our Unspoken Secrets.” In an email, Underwood explained what the story is about: “How do we release our anger and guilt? How do we forgive ourselves? This novel illustrates how the cloistered secrets within our lives gnaw our subconscious and cause long-term distress. It offers a path out of the quagmire of guilt and shame.”
The book is a saga set in southern New Mexico, spanning the years 1919 and 2002, and explores the lives of three main characters — Bartolome, Conchita and Zachery, and their encounters with a mysterious Franciscan priest.
“Our Unspoken Secrets” is the first in Underwood’s planned “Blood Brothers” series.