Award-winning Chicano Author to Speak at Smiley Library

Award-winning Chicano author Gustavo Arellano will give a free speech at the A.K. Smiley Library Assembly Room on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, Calif., author of “Orange County: A Personal History” and “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America,” and lecturer with the Chicana and Chicano Studies department at California State University, Fullerton. Additionally, he writes “¡Ask a Mexican!” (a nationally syndicated column) in which he answers any and all questions about America’s spiciest and largest minority. The column has a weekly circulation of over 2 million in 39 newspapers across the United States, won the 2006 and 2008 Association of Alternative Weeklies award for Best Column, and was published in book form by Scribner Press in May 2007. Arellano has been the subject of press coverage in national and international newspapers, The Today Show, The Sean Hannity Show, Nightline, Good Morning America, and The Colbert Report, and his commentaries regularly appear on Marketplace and in the Los Angeles Times. He is the recipient of the Los Angeles Press Club’s 2007 President’s Award and an Impacto Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity, and work ethic.” Gustavo is a lifelong resident of Orange County and is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants. The A.K. Smiley Library is located at 125 W. Vine St., Redlands. For further information, contact Daniel Slota at the library, 909-798-7565.