April Events for Adults @ Hayward Public Library

Mystery & Suspense
Tuesday, April 6th @ 6:30 - 7:45 p.m., Main Library

Alicia Gaspar de Alba's mystery, Desert Blood, is based on a horrifying series of actual murders of young women in the border town of Juarez, Mexico. Desert Blood tells a compelling story full of brutality, graphic violence and, ultimately, redemption. Featuring Ivon Villa, a gay women's studies professor who has come to her home town of El Paso to finish her dissertation and to arrange and adoption for herself and her partner, the mystery begins with the murder of the young Juarez factory worker who has agreed to give her baby up for adoption. Then Ivon's young sister, Irene, goes missing after an evening in Juarez. Ivon must cope with pervasive prejudice against both gays and Hispanics, corrupt cops, her cousin's alcoholism, and, worst of all, her mother's disapproval, to solve the murder, save her sister, and become an adopted baby's new mother.
Discussion facilitated by Heidi.Ontiveros@hayward-ca.gov, 510-881-7975.

Mostly Literary Fiction
Monday, April 12th @ Noon, Peet's Coffee (B St. and Mission) and 6:30-7:45 p.m., Main Library

We will be discussing the NEA Big Read selection, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Besides winning the Premio Quinto Sol national Chicano literary award, this novel of a young boy in New Mexico in the 1940s has sold several hundred thousand copies in paperback since its 1973 debut.

Choose from two different meeting times and locations -- noon at Peet's Coffee & Tea or in the evening at the Main Library.
Discussion facilitated by Sally.Thomas@hayward-ca.gov, 510-881-7700. Not able to attend meetings but want to discuss this book with others? Join GoodReads.com and participate in online discussions! You must have an account on GoodReads.com to participate. Contact Sally for more information.

Autobiography & Memoir
Wednesday, April 21st @ 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., Main Library

This month, in conjunction with the BIG READ, we will be reading Rudolfo Anaya's bookA Chicano in China. Having grown up with an inherited fantasy about Asia, Anaya headed to the Far East to find scenes and symbols familiar to a Chicano. Anaya offers us a cultural and spiritual autobiography in which he strives to make China meaningful by relating it to the world of a New Mexican Chicano. This journal is less about China itself than of the way Anaya views his experience.
Discussion facilitated by Abbe.Kalos@hayward-ca.gov, 510-881-7941.