Mary Helen Lagasse is the winner of this year’s Premio Atzlán prize for her novel, “The Fifth Sun,” from Curbstone Press. She will present a talk and receive her prize on Thursday, March 24 at 4 p.m. in the Willard Reading Room of Zimmerman Library. Lagasse will also hold an open discussion with interested students from 10 a.m. to noon on March 25. Both events are free and open to the public.
“We are pleased to reintroduce this literary prize competition in honor of Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya,” said Camilla Alire, dean, University Libraries. “The Anaya's initially established the prize to encourage Chicano and Chicana writers to continue with their work, and it is an honor to be able to support that project.”
Lagasse’s novel “The Fifth Sun” is a story of a young Mexican woman, Mercedes, who leaves her village to work as a housemaid in New Orleans. The fast paced novel takes her through adventures with her struggle to raise her children, her deportation and her attempt to re-cross the river to reunite with her children.
She is currently working on a novel based on the construction of the 1830’s era New Basin Canal in New Orleans where hundreds of Irish emigrants worked and died under harrowing conditions.
A native of New Orleans, La., Lagasse attended parochial schools and received her bachelor of arts from Tulane University in 1978. She is currently working toward a master's of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at the University of New Orleans. She is bilingual and has worked as a freelance writer in the New Orleans area.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627