NEA Big Read Virtual Kickoff

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Join us we kick off Santa Fe's NEA Big Read, focusing on Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea. Learn more about all the Big Read activities, enjoy music from Carlos Medina Conjunto and Lone Piñon, readings from the book with community partners, a special performance by the Santa Fe Opera’s Young Voices and City Poet Laureate, Elizabeth Jacobson and Youth Poet Laureate, Artemisio Romero y Carver. Be the first to hear the song Carlos Medina wrote especially for the NEA Big Read Santa Fe!

Singer, songwriter, comedian and actor Carlos Medina was born in Las Vegas, NM. Carlos performs throughout the Southwest with his acoustic trio, 4-piece conjunto and Mariachi.  His one-man comedy show featuring his alter ego, Graviel de La Plaga, entertains his fans during the music breaks. Most of Medina's repertoire consists of original music based on life experience. 

Lone Piñon is a New Mexican string band, or "orquesta típica," whose music celebrates the integrity of their region's cultural roots. With fiddles, upright bass, accordions, mandolin, guitars, and bilingual vocals, they play a wide spectrum of the traditional music that is at home in New Mexico.

A 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Luis Alberto Urrea is the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of 17 books, winning numerous awards for his poetry, fiction and essays. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea is most recognized as a border writer, though he says, "I am more interested in bridges, not borders."

"Awash in a subtle kind of satire... A funny and poignant impossible journey... Into the Beautiful North is a refreshing antidote to all the negativity currently surrounding Mexico."
―Roberto Ontiveros, Dallas Morning News

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, a partnership with Arts Midwest, broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Showcasing a diverse range of themes, voices, and perspectives,  the NEA Big Read aims to inspire conversation and discovery.