Everything Nac

The recent Stephen F. Austin State University Press publication “The Road to Llorona Park” by Christopher Carmona has received two major accolades. NBC News nominated the book as one of the eight great Latino books published in 2016, and the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies awarded it the NACCS Tejas Fiction Book Award, which annually recognizes an outstanding work of fiction related to the Mexican-American experience in Texas.

“The Road to Llorona Park” is a collection of short fiction that focuses on the borderlands of the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas. Each story focuses on a young, Central-American refugee’s experience with the socio-political agenda of the United States, the political unrest in Mexico and the effects those have on people living on either side of the border.

Kim Verhines, director of SFA Press, said Sarah Rafael García, the editor of SFA’s yearly Barrio Writers anthology, introduced Carmona to her. Verhines thought Carmona’s work was “edgy and contained terrific images of life along the border of Texas and Mexico,” Verhines said.

Dr. Brian Murphy, dean of SFA’s College of Liberal and Applied Arts, said that SFA Press provides the university with national recognition for academic and creative excellence.

“The SFA Press has established a national profile with a number of award-winning publications. The press not only demonstrates the academic quality of the university, but also provides hands-on training opportunities for our students,” Murphy said. “Kim Verhines has nurtured a start-up enterprise into a crown jewel in a short time span.”

The awards given to “The Road to Llorona Park” are the latest in a growing number of accolades SFA Press has received, including the International Book Award for Military History, the Nebraska Book Award for Anthology, the Goodreads top 30 African-American authors, the Midwest Authors Book Award and a runner-up for the Paterson Poetry Prize.

East Texas is blessed with an abundance of beautiful trees that thrive in southern landscapes. Chris Dempsey, senior garden technician for Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens, will host a public seminar aimed at teaching participants about native trees from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 28, at the SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

Dempsey will help participants choose the ideal tree for their landscapes, make the best selections at the nursery and then demonstrate the appropriate method for planting. He also will discuss reasons for proper pruning, show pruning tools, and demonstrate the specifics of pruning and training shade, ornamental and fruit trees.

“Trees are the largest plants in your landscape and many can provide shade for your house for decades,” Dempsey said. “They must be properly established and maintained to ensure their longevity and beauty and to reduce the risk of disease and damage.”

Dempsey is a Nacogdoches native and an urban forestry graduate of the SFA Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture. He has worked as a tree climber for Bartlett Tree Services in San Marcos.

To register for the seminar, contact SFA Gardens’ education office at (936) 468-1832 or sfagardens@sfasu.edu. Cost is $15 for SFA Garden members and $20 for non-members.