On to Albuquerque…Music! Books! Slam Poetry!

This Saturday, June 11, I’m giving a talk on my book “Detained and Deported” at the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque. Before my slide presentation, musician Dan Golden will sing and play guitar; afterward, slam poet Damien Flores will perform. This will be my first time in Albuquerque and my second time sharing a stage with a slam poet! The show begins at 7 p.m. at the church, 3701 Carlisle Blvd. NE, 87110, at the corner of Carlisle and Comanche. Local indie stores Bookworks will sell my books afterward and I’ll be happy to sign.

 

Reading at Raices Taller 222 Gallery in Tucson…Art! Books! 

7 p.m., Saturday, June 18, 218 E. Sixth St.

 

I’ll be making my third appearance at this cooperative gallery in the happening arts neighborhood around Sixth and Sixth in Tucson. The annual women’s show, “Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres,” will be having its closing celebration that evening from 6 to 9 p.m. See art, eat refreshments, listen to live music and hear border stories from “Detained and Deported” and “The Death of Josseline.” All free. Thanks to Ceci Garcia and John Salgado for honoring women’s work.

 

Border Songs and Stories at the Central School Project, Bisbee, Arizona. 

7 p.m., Saturday, September 17, 43 Howell Ave.

Folk singer/guitarist Pablo Peregrina and I will join forces for a third time. Pablo will sing his original songs about immigrants, including his poignant song “Josseline” and his newest, “Detained and Deported,” inspired by people I wrote about in my books. The Central School Project is a cool arts enterprise in this arty former mining town in southeastern Arizona. The former elementary school has been converted into art studios and performance spaces.

 

Launch of “Detained and Deported”

Antigone Books, Tucson, March 6, 2015

Book Reading and Signing

 

Tucson Festival of Books, University of Arizona, March 14 and 15

“Writing about the Border,” panel with El Salvador journalist Oscar Martinez (“The Beast”) and Arizona novelist Jay Treiber (“Spirit Walk”)

“The Border Humanitarian Crisis,” panel with Oscar Martinez and Arizona activist Peg Bowden (“A Land of Hard Edges”)

 

Etherton Gallery, Tucson, March 14

Solo reading and book signing in an exhibition space showcasing black-and white border photos by Mark Klett

 

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, April 2

Lecture and book signing.

Appearance on university television station, NAU-TV

 

Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies, conference, University of Arizona, April 9 to 11

Book reading at panel on “Arizona Borderlands”

Panel on “Reporting Migration,” with journalist Todd Miller (“Border Patrol Nation”)

 

Casa Libre en La Solana, Tucson, Book Reading and Signing, April 22

With Teré Fowler-Chapman and Estella Gonzalez

 

Loyola University Chicago, April 24 and April 27

Lecture and reading at Loyola Center for the Human Rights of Children, filmed by C-Span for “Book TV.” http://www.c-span.org/video/?325758-1/margaret-regan-detained-deported

Lecture and reading at Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola

 

Unity Church-Unitarian, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 29

Talk and Book Signing, first in the church’s new author series

One-hour radio interview with Tom O’Connell on “Truth to Tell,” KFAI 90.3 FM, aired May 18

http://kfai.org/truthtotell

 

Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Arizona, May 20

Reading and Book Signing

TV interview with Ted Simons on “Arizona Horizon” on AZPBS, with Arizona State University

 

Atlantic Highlands Arts Council, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, June 17

Reading and Book Signing in New Jersey Shore town

 

Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery, Tucson, July 25

Appearance with singer-songwriter Pablo Peregina. I read desert stories from my book and in between Pablo sang his wonderful border songs.

Amanda Shauger of KXCI Tucson 91.3 FM recorded the event and turned it into three radio shows for her Sunday program “30 Minutes.”

 

 

 

 Revolution Books, Los Angeles, August 9 Reading and Book Signing in bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard, with a view of the Hollywood sign! Radio interview with “The Michael Slate Show” on KPFK 90.7 FM https://soundcloud.com/michaelslate/margaret-regan-interview

Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 17 and 18

Classroom visit to Honors English class taught by Prof.  Ben Carson, who assigned “Detained and Deported” for his class in “Ethnic America”

Lecture and Slide Presentation to students in all freshman Honors seminars

 

First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 17

Lecture and Slide Presentation in historic church built in 1845

 

UN Association of Southern Arizona, Tucson, October 20

Lecture and Slide Presentation at brown-bag luncheon in UNICEF Store filled with crafts from around the world

 

“Here and There: The Human Side of the Immigration Debate,” Tucson, October 21

Led adult education class offered through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arizona. Taught by Peter Hirschman. Students were engaged and knowledgeable retirees with lots to say!

 

Louisville, Kentucky, Book Club, October 22

Spoke about “Detained and Deported” for  two hours via Skype with a smart group of women

 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Book Club, October 29

Another great book club discussion, with another great bunch of women, this time via speaker phone.

 

Friday, November 6, 2015, Tucson 

Northern Arizona University Olson Scholars Border Tour.

I spoke to these outstanding NAU students about my first book “The Death of Josseline,” which they were reading in a border class, taught by Prof. Leah Mundell.

 

Thursday, November 12, 2015

University of Arizona, Mexican-American Studies Class, Speaker

In this class, “Latin American Immigration and the Making of the U.S.,” taught by Dr. Anna O’Leary, I also spoke about “The Death of Josseline,” an assigned book on the class syllabus. 

 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015, Tucson 

Midwives Book Club, in-person appearance. An interesting discussion with these crazy-smart, compassionate women. 

 

 

 

MIAMI BOOK FAIR, November 21

I had a great time on my first visit to this immigrant-rich city. I spoke on the panel A Dream Derailed: The Dark Side of the Immigrant Experience, alongside three other women, all of them originally from countries other than the U.S.: authors Mirto Ojito (“Hunting Season”), from Cuba, and Eileen Truax (“Dreamers”), from Mexico, and documentary filmmaker Rachèle Magloire (“Deported”), from Haiti.

I also did a radio interview with Joseph Dobzynski, host of ThirtyFour 50, on Radio Ear Network online and distributed by NPR and PRX.

At the author party Saturday night, I saw the author band Rock Bottom Remainders for the first time. Dave Barry was on lead guitar, Amy Tan on vocals, Mitch Albom on keyboard, Leonard Pitts in the chorus, et al. Fun!

HOMETOWN TALK! Philadelphia, Dec. 11 

I gave a slide talk about “Detained and Deported” at  St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, in Philadelphia’s old Germantown neighborhood. Organized by my energetic sister, Mary Regan, the talk was a very moving event for me. In the audience were many dear old friends, four of my siblings and their partners, two of my nephews, one of my nieces, and two of my cousins. And I spoke about the travails of today’s immigrants in a place just a mile or so away from Redner Street, where my Irish immigrant great-grandparents Mary Comey and Timothy Regan lived, worked, suffered and died young in the 1880s. The story of their tragic lives is my inspiration for writing about immigration today.

 

PRISON PANEL, Tucson, Dec. 18. 

At Etherton Gallery, in a discussion about the rise of for-profit prisons and detention centers, I talked about Eloy, the notorious Corrections Corporation of America detention prison in Arizona. Also on the panel were AZ State Sen. Steve Farley; attorney Lisette Flores; and Dr. Grace Gamez of the American Friends Service Committee. ; State Sen. Jim Nintzel, host of Zona Politics and senior writer at the Tucson Weekly, moderated. The panel was in conjunction with Conversations with the Dead, an exhibition of Danny Lyon’s searing Texas prison photos. Amanda Shauger of KXCI radio, recorded the discussion and aired it on her show.

https://kxci.org/2015/12/prison-reform-panel-etherton-gallery/ 

BORDER ISSUES FAIR, Good Shepherd Church, Sahuarita, Arizona

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Wonderful morning-long event with many enthusiastic activists and people of faith in attendance. I was one of four speakers.

CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE, Aravaipa Campus, Aravaipa, Arizona, Jan. 25, 2016

I gave a talk to students at this community college located near the mining town of Mammoth and near the entrance to the beautiful Aravaipa Canyon. Thanks to librarian Marnie Goodbody, who organized the event.

BORDER SONGS AND STORIES 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016, Green Valley, AZ

Sponsored by Joyner Green Valley Library

Music and Books:Joint appearance with border singer-songwriter Pablo Peregrina. Pablo wrote a song about Josseline, inspired by my last book, and  Pablo sang a new song drawn from characters in “Detained and Deported.” He also gave a soulful rendition of his earlier song “Josseline,” about the young girl memorialized in my book “The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands.” Continental Shopping Plaza, 210 W. Continental Road, Suite 248, Green Valley.

 

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, Capstone history class, “Citizenship and Human Rights, Feb. 10.

I spoke to students in a seminar for senior history majors. The teacher is Dr. Minayo Nasiali, assistant professor of history. 4:30 p.m.

 

Saturday, February 13, 2016, Eloy, AZ 

Desert Rose Baha’i Institute Artists & Scholars Symposium

I met wonderful caring people at this Baha’i symposium on Unifying Families and Communities. I gave the talk just just a few miles from Eloy Detention Center, the private immigration prison I wrote about in “Detained and Deported.” On the drive, I went right past the prison and saw detainees wandering around the recreation yard. My talk fit right in with the them of the day: Eloy incarcerates many parents whose detention has separated them from their children.

 

Monday, February 15, 2016, Oro Valley, AZ

Havurah Group. Speaker

7 p.m.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, Sam Hughes Chapter, Tucson

Thursday, February 18

I’ll speak about my books at a meeting in a private home. 11:30 a.m.

 

SADDLEBROOKE LIBRARIES AUTHORS’ EXPO  

Saturday, February 20, 2016, SaddleBrooke, AZ 

Mountain View Ballroom

9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 

OLLI LIFELONG LEARNING CLASS, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, Tucson

February 24, 1:30 p.m. University Services Annex.

I’ll speak to the adult students in this class on the U.S.-Mexico border. Led by Peter Hirschman.

 

 

Monday, March 7, 2016, Tucson

Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work Border Tour, Speaker

Tucson

 

TUCSON FESTIVAL OF BOOKS, Tucson 

I’m on three author panels at this book fair at the University of Arizona, March 12 and 13.

Women Journalists on the Border

Saturday, March 12, 11:30 a.m., Social & Behavioral Sciences Tent

A discussion of border journalism, with Kathryn Ferguson (“The Haunting of the Mexican Border”), Cristina Ramirez (“Occupying Our Space: The Mestiza Rhetorics of Mexican Women Journalists and Activists, 1875-1942”) and me. Moderator: Celeste González de Bustamante.

Human Rights

Sunday, March 13, 10 a.m. Student Union Gallagher Theater

I’ll join Luis Urrea (“The Water Musuem” and “The Tijuana Book of the Dead”) and attorney Theresa Duncan, author of a book about Guantanamo Bay,  to look at the human rights of immigrants, detainees and prisoners. Moderator: Jim Nintzel
That’s Border Life, She Said

Sunday, March 13, 1 p.m. Student Union Kachina Room

 Kathryn Ferguson, Gayle Jandrey (“Journey Through an Arid Land”) and I talk about life along the border. Moderator: Jim Nintzel

 

Sunday, April 3, 2016, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Speaker at Sunday services

 

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF GREATER TUCSON ANNUAL MEETING

April 15

I was the keynote speaker at this meeting of very informed and engaged women.

HISTORY CLASS ON MIGRATION, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

April 20.

Guest speaker in class taught by Professor Julia Clancy Smith. My talk was on my earlier book “The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands.”

 

Monday, April 25, 2016, Chicago, Illinois 

Roosevelt University

I was honored to be named this year’s Matthew Freeman Social Justice Speaker. Details of lecture time and location to come.

 

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS BOOK CLUB

Wednesday, May 18, Tucson

What a great conversation we had about “Detained and Deported!” These women continue to impress me. They’re smart, caring and very well informed.

 

UNITARIAN CHURCH, AMADO, ARIZONA 

Sunday, May 22. Speaker at Sunday service. 10 a.m

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE BORDER TRIP 

Monday, May 23, Tucson

I met with a team of young medical students determined to become better doctors by learning about the travails of migrants along the border and in the Arizona desert. Kudos to them! Our future is in good hands with young doctors of their intellectual caliber and compassion.

 

 

 

 

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