In 1967 Picasso gave the city of Chicago a sculpture that would come to be known simply as The Picasso. To this day it stands in the center of the Daley Plaza across from City Hall. In 1968, novelist Tony Diaz would be born one mile from the tumult that was the 1968 Democratic Convention, as then Mayor Daley Sr. unleashed police to beat back Hippies and Yippies protesting the Vietnam War. In 1990, Diaz would begin Picassos’ Dragon before having to leave Chicago. Now he can tell the story of what was Picasso’s Dragon. But to put it into words he will share with you the great literary voices that have forged the American Imagination, who will help him find the precise words to tell that tale.
Every week Tony Diaz will ride Picassos’ Dragon into one of the books that have shaken America to its core. Diaz will talk about the book live on Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say on 90.1 FM, KPFT, Houston, Texas, www.kpft.org. The written archive of those talks will be posted here online. Others are invited to participate on the air, or through this website. A copy of the book being experienced will be given away on the air the week before we talk about it. The only catch is that if you win the book on the air, you do have to work for it, and be a part of Picasso’s Dragon live, on the air.
Here is the list:
January 15, 2008: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
January 22, 2008: Bright Light, Big City
January 29, The Prince by Machiavelli
February 5, 2008: Flowers by Dagoberto Gilb
February 12, 2008: Jesus Son by Denis Johnson
February 19, 2008: Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
February 26, 2008: Antipodes by Ignacio Padilla
This is up for a vote: The Alchemist . . . Let me know . ..
We have 52 voices to take on. Here are some highlights of the literary samurai and titles who will take on Picasso’s Dragon: Hunter S. Thompson, Oscar Zeta Acosta, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Naked Lunch, Bukowski, Crash, Atomic Aztecs.
