Join us at the CSRC Library when author Maria Nieto reads from and signs her novel Pig Behind the Bear (Floricanto Press/Berkeley Press, 2012). Books will be available for purchase at the event.
Novel synopsis:
It’s 1971, one year after the killing of famed Los Angeles Times reporter, Rubén Salazar. A junior reporter, Alejandra Marisol, who works for the Times, is asked to write a commemorative piece on Salazar in recognition of the one-year anniversary of his death. While doing work for the piece, Alejandra finds that she is embroiled in a murder mystery that appears to have ties to Rubén Salazar’s death. Alejandra uncovers a world of evil and corruption with the help of an unlikely collection of people who become heroes and who challenge us to think differently about ourselves and the world we live in; Rocky the philosophizing WWI veteran, Sumire the clairvoyant ex-Japanese internment camp prisoner, Tia (Aunt) Carmen, the wise-cracker who can wield a powerful left leg jab with a retractable prosthesis, Tony and Chucho, the neighborhood homeboys, and Gato the wonder cat. Alejandra also gets help from a dancing Jesus who feels misunderstood, and from his mom, Mary, who bestows Alejandra with a tube of lipstick that helps Alejandra unleash her inner strength. The reader will travel through streets and townships where rich Angeleno culture comes to life, and where tragedy and despair are transformed into hope.
About the author:
Maria Nieto grew up in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and moved from the area in 1984 to attend a PhD graduate program in Immunology at UC Berkeley. She currently resides in Oakland and works as a Professor of Biology at California State University, East Bay, where she has been engaged in underrepresented minority student recruitment, teaching, and research for over 22 years. As a researcher and educator Nieto’s writings have taken the form of scientific journal publications, and more recently popular press articles. Pig Behind the Bear represents her first work of fiction.
This event is FREE.
Watch the video of this event here.
