Looking out the windows at the Valle Bajo Community Center and Library, playwright and author Octavio Solis recalled his youth.
“It all started there,” he said with an upward nod as he spoke about his book, “Retablos: Stories from a LIfe Lived Along the Border,” to more than 30 people who came to hear the native El Pasoan speak.
The center on Alameda Avenue is about a mile from the street where he grew up – a Riverside High School neighborhood that has changed and grown over the decades but remains home to his mother and a slew of memories that shaped his book.
Read: Excerpt from our book club pick: ‘Retablos’ by Octavio Solis
In the audience, former classmates, teachers, friends and newfound fans listen intently about how some of his stories weren’t well-received by his family, the liberties he took in retelling them, why he code-switches between English and Spanish, the field where mischievous youth once played, and a mysterious runner who became a fixture in the neighborhood.
Learn more: Q&A with ‘Retablos’ author Octavio Solis
The Aug. 28 meetup was an event of the El Paso Matters Book Club, which selected “Retablos” among its picks. The discussion was moderated by Tim Z. Hernandez, author of another Book Club selection, “All They Will Call You.” A day prior, Solis held a writing workshop at the Jenna Welch and Laura Bush Community Library at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus attended by about 20 people.
Below are some photos from the events:
Native El Pasoan author and playwright Octavio Solis served as cultural consultant and voiced the role of “Arrivals Agent” in the film “Coco.” (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Tim Z. Hernandez pages through “Retablos,” a book by playwright and director Octavio Solis. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Native El Pasoan author and playwright Octavio Solis, left, and author Tim Z. Hernandez discuss Solis’s book, “Retablos,” during a meeting of the El Paso Matters Book Club, Aug, 28, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Octavio Solis, left, a playwright and director who grew up in El Paso, shares a jokes with author Tim Z. Hernandez during an El Paso Matters Book Club meeting, Aug, 28, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Audience members at the El Paso Matters Book Club recall their experiences of being punished at school for speaking Spanish. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Author Tim Z. Hernandez listens as playwright and author Octavio Solis discusses his book, “Retablos,” during a meeting of the El Paso Matters Book Club, Aug. 28, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Octavio Solis, a playwright and director who grew up in El Paso, signs books and greets readers at an El Paso Matters Book Club meeting, Aug, 28, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)Playwright and author Octavio Solis leads a writing workshop at the El Paso Community College Northwest Campus Aug. 27, 2024. (Angela Saavedra / El Paso Matters)
The post Photos: Author Octavio Solis talks inspiration, code-switching appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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