Kathleen Alcalá "This is a story about women organizing across class lines to benefit one another-a story that is more relevant than ever right now. These Mexican women braved a lot of scorn, prison, and physical danger to live out their ideals."
Treasures in Heaven is a turbulent tale of love and political awakening set in Mexico a century ago. The protagonist, Estela, finds herself swept into a world of politics and entangled in secret relationships. What starts as lessons to educate poor children grows into a school for prostitutes. The school leads to a radical underground newspaper and a dangerous movement for social change that foreshadows the Mexican Revolution.
Treasures in Heaven is one of three stand-alone books set in nineteenth-century Mexico and based on Kathleen Alcalá's family's stories-stories both historical and universal. The first two books,
Spirits of the Ordinary and
The Flower in the Skull, stick pretty closely to the author's family lore, while
Treasures in Heaven explores the feminist movement that arose in Mexico.
We hope that this new edition brings some well-deserved recognition to an important Chicana author. Originally published in 2000 by Chronicle Books, Treasures in Heaven is a story, inspired by true events, that is especially relevant today. The new foreword is written by M. Miriam Herrera, Senior Lecturer, Department of Writing and Language Studies, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Alcalá, Kathleen: - Kathleen Alcalá is the author of six books exploring migrations, identity, and our relationships with the land. A graduate of Stanford University (BA), the University of Washington (MA), and the University of New Orleans (MFA), Kathleen is a descendent of the Ópata Nation and makes her home on Suquamish territory. A co-founder of Raven Chronicles Press, she has recent work in El Porvenir Ya!, Zócalo, New Suns, The Madrona Project, and Adventures in Bodily Autonomy, and a novel forthcoming from Rosarium Press. Her work is available on PALABRA, an audio archive of the Library of Congress. Kathleen and Professor Norma Cantú are co-editors of the forthcoming Weeping Women: La Llorona's Presence in Modern Latinx and Chicanx Lore. A member of the Ópata Nation, Kathleen makes her home on Suquamish territory.
Arreguín, Alfredo M.: - Alfredo Arreguín (1935-2023) was born in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, and earned a BA in 1967 and an MFA in 1969 at the University of Washington. For sixty years, he worked out of his adopted home of Seattle, Washington, producing his signature style of pattern paintings that sourced his Mexican culture and his experience in the Pacific Northwest. He was known as a leader in the Latin American art scene. In 1980, he received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A climactic moment in his career came in 1994, when the Smithsonian Institution acquired his triptych Sueño (Dream: Eve Before Adam) for inclusion in the permanent collection of the National Museum of American Art. In 1995, Arreguín received an OHTLI Award, the highest recognition given by the Mexican government to individuals who perform distinguished service to the Mexican community abroad. He died on April 24, 2023, aged eighty-eight.
Herrera, Miriam: - M. Miriam Herrera is an American author and poet. She teaches Introduction to Mexican Studies as well as Composition and Rhetoric and Creative Writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.She is also a Lecturer with the Department of Writing Language Studies, and a Mexican American Studies Program (MASC) Affiliate.Her poetry often explores Mexican-American or Chicano life and her Crypto-Jewish and Cherokee heritage, but mainly the universal themes of nature, family, myth, and the transcendent experience.
