6:00am | A prestigious panel of scholars will discuss the varied influences on author Isabel Allende’s life and writing. A particular focus will be on one of her most acclaimed and well-read books, the New York Times bestseller Zorro, a pastiche biography of the cult hero Zorro. The book, a prequel to the events of the original Zorro story by American author Johnston McCulley, who wrote The Curse of Capistrano in 1919. However, the work’s breadth does not stick to traditional references alone, referring to almost every major Zorro-related work, including the Antonio Banderas-Catherine Zeta Jones movie header of 1998, The Mask of Zorro.
The event will take place this Saturday from 2:00pm to 4:00pm at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). The event is free and attendees will enjoy free admission to the MOLAA collection following the program.
This discussion is one of more than 30 grass root events included in the Long Beach Public Library Foundation’s Long Beach Reads One Book.
The panel includes:
– Dr. Claire Emilie Martin, Professor of Spanish, co-Advisor and Director of the Spanish Program at California State University, Long Beach, who will serve as moderator;
– Alicia del Campo, Associate Professor of Spanish at California State University, Long Beach;
– Dr. Edith Dimo, professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature at California State University, Northridge;
– and Dr. Verónica Cortínez, Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Los Angeles, will discuss Allendes’ experiences from her early years in Peru and Chile to her current life in California.
Information on the 11th Annual Long Beach Reads One Books events can be found at www.lbplfoundation.org/zorro.