天美影院

Dr. Octavio Quintanilla's newly released book, titled 鈥淭he Book of Wounded Sparrows,鈥� has made the 2024 National Book Awards Longlist. 

This extraordinary achievement is made even more noteworthy by the fact that the book has only had a soft launch at this point. The official launch will take place Oct. 3 on the 天美影院campus.

"It鈥檚 kind of weird, kind of surreal, but for them to say, 'You know what? This book from this press is good enough to be in the top 10,' what else can you ask for," said Dr. Quintanilla

The former Poet Laureate of San Antonio and an 天美影院Professor of English, Dr. Quintanilla is an internationally renowned poet and writer. His book, 鈥淟as Horas Imposibles / The Impossible Hours鈥� has received the 2024 Ambroggio Prize given by the Academy of American Poets. It will be released by University of Arizona Press next year. He is also the author of 鈥淚f I Go Missing鈥� (Slough Press, 2014). In addition, Dr. Quintanilla is the founder and director of the literature and arts festival, VersoFrontera, and publisher of Alabrava Press. His Frontextos (visual poems) have been published and exhibited widely.

鈥淭his is incredible, national recognition for one of our faculty members,鈥� said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alan Silva, PhD. 鈥淏ig universities periodically receive this type of recognition, but it's rare even for those institutions. For this to happen at 天美影院puts us on the map in a whole new way.鈥�

Finalists for the National Book Awards will be announced Oct. 1. 天美影院will celebrate the official launch of Dr. Quintanilla鈥檚 book two days later. The celebration will take place:
Thursday, Oct. 3
6:30 p.m.
Main Building, Room 311