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The 58 percent literacy rate in South Texas is an alarming statistic. “That means 42 percent of our population are at some level of illiteracy. People don’t believe that,” said Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza, executive director of the South Texas Literacy Coalition. The high percent of illiteracy in the border region is why her organization, initiated [...]

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Hundreds of Rio Grande Valley children and their families walked away from the sixth annual FESTIBA (Festival of International Books and Arts) Community Day at The University of Texas-Pan American April 2 with memories of a day filled with fun, food, art and entertainment. They also left with a free book and an important message [...]

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Nearly 200 students at Brown Middle School received not only a free author-signed book but a high five from red-shirt-wearing Target employees as they exited the school's cafeteria March 31. In a new partnership developed with The University of Texas-Pan American's FESTIBA (Festival of International Books and Art) Week, Target funded the purchase of more [...]

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Fourth grade student Michael Bullion said he had no fears but was able to rattle off those of all four main characters in a book his class just read: "School of Fear" by Gitty Daneshvari. "Madeline is afraid of spiders, insects and stuff and she wears a veil in front of her face, Lulu is [...]

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Chris is an 18-year-old high school student with a part-time job at Dairy Queen, but he longs for a more exciting life. So he decides to seek acceptance into the notoriously violent 38th Street Gang. Proving himself worthy to take on a drug dealing job, the recruiting gang members take him to meet their leader [...]

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Early childhood literacy is key to student success as well as the economic future of the state of Texas. This critical message was stressed at the first day of FESTIBA (Festival of International Books and Arts) March 28 at The University of Texas-Pan American. A packed ballroom of educators and teachers attended on a day [...]

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The UTPA College of Arts and Humanities and Department of Community Engagement invite you and your family to join us for our annual FESTIBA 2011 Community Festival Saturday, April 2, 2011 12 p.m.-8 p.m. Location: Outdoors, east of the UTPA Visitors Center   Event is Free Attractions/activities featured: FESTIBA 2011 MARIACHI CONCERT – Come enjoy beautiful mariachi [...]

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Author Jennifer Cervantes Reading from her fiction! Thursday, March 31, 2011 2:30 PM in UTPA Library Faculty Lounge (Room 313A) Question/Answer session and reception to follow The novel Tortilla Sun (2010) is a cuento about twelve-year-old Izzy Roybal. While her mother does research in Costa Rica for a summer, Izzy stays with her grandmother in [...]

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