Santino Rivera Brings A Touch Of Rebellion To Tucson Book Festival

'¡Ban This!'
Protesters gather to support the Tucson Unified School District as Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal announce that the Tucson Unified School District violates state law by teaching it's Mexican American Studies Department's ethic studies program at a news conference at the Arizona Department of Education Wednesday, June 15, 2011, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Protesters gather to support the Tucson Unified School District as Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal announce that the Tucson Unified School District violates state law by teaching it's Mexican American Studies Department's ethic studies program at a news conference at the Arizona Department of Education Wednesday, June 15, 2011, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Any good festival devoted to literacy should have a tinge of rebellion.

And author and publisher Santino Joaquin Rivera will bring some to the fifth annual Tucson Festival of Books Saturday next Sunday at the University of Arizona.

When the Tucson Unified School District eliminated Mexican-American Studies, it removed select books from the MAS classrooms. In response, Rivera, who has a small publishing house called Broken Sword Publications, called on fellow authors to create poetry, prose, fiction and illustrations as a form of protest.

Before You Go

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, by Rodolfo Acuña

Latino Books Once Banned In Arizona

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