Friends of the Library

Lorena V. Márquez

Thursday, September 22, 2022

The 22/23 Martell Lecture Series begins on Thursday, September 22 with Dr. Lorena V. Márquez, historian and author of La Gente: Struggles for Empowerment and Community Self-Determination in Sacramento, which highlights the rise of the Chicana/o Movement during the 1960s and 1970s. She illustrates how everyday people, la gente, contested various forms of oppression at school, at work, and in their communities and sought lasting and transformative change. By documenting specific acts of resistance, Márquez shows that the Chicana/o Movement in Sacramento encouraged those who were the most marginalized—the working poor, immigrants, and the undocumented, and the undereducated—to fight for their rights.

Márquez’s book is “a marvelous study of the Chicana/o movement in Sacramento that poses questions about self-determination, activism, and everyday people’s political participation. La Gente is a significant contribution to the historiography of the Chicana/o movement.”  — Erik Bernardino, Journal of American Ethnic History

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Terri Castaneda

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Sacramento State’s very own Professor Terri A. Castaneda is the second speaker on Thursday, October 27. Castaneda’s book, Marie Mason Potts: The Lettered Life of a California Indian Activist, explores the life, challenges, and accomplishments of Marie Mason Potts (1895–1978), a Mountain Maidu woman and one of the most influential California Indian political activists of the 20th century. Castaneda draws on Potts’ work for the Federated Indians of California, the Smoke Signal newspaper, and personal correspondence to privilege Potts’ voice in this exceptional biography.
“It is impossible to share all of her meaning and importance here, but Terri Castaneda has provided us with a detailed view of Marie Potts’s life, her challenges, and her greatest successes as an advocate for California Indian people… Castaneda has given us all something to treasure.”  — News from Native California

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Lee E. Hollingsworth

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Spring 2023 begins with a lecture by Lee E. Hollingsworth, author of A Gold Rush Tragedy: The George Hollingsworth Letters. Based upon personal letters from George Hollingsworth to his wife, Elizabeth, the book chronicles the allure of the Gold Rush and the universal desire to create a better life. This firsthand account gives readers a glimpse into the arduous journey across the United States and into the realities of life in the mid-1800s. The book creates a rich narrative around the hopes, dreams, sacrifices and the strength of character of those who headed west to strike a claim.

A Gold Rush Tragedy was a top ten finalist for the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Award in history.

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Jamil Jan Kochai

Thursday, April 25, 2023

The 22/23 Martell Series concludes with “made at Sac State” author Jamil Jan Kochai for a special conversation. His debut novel, 99 Nights in Logar, is the witty and tender coming-of-age journey of a twelve-year-old boy in contemporary Afghanistan. 99 Nights in Logar was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

Kochai’s newest work, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, a collection of short stories published in July 2022, moves between comedy and tragedy as he follows characters in modern-day Afghanistan and in the Afghan diaspora. The Haunting of Hajji Hotak has been widely celebrated, and the collection is a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction.

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