The Border Book Festival (BBF), Inc. will host the 4th annual 4th of July Book and Art sale at the Cultural Center de Mesilla (CCM) starting Friday, July 4th from 10-5:00 p.m. and running all weekend until Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.

The Cultural Center, located a block and a half from the Mesilla Plaza at 2231 Calle de Parian, was once home to a Mexican garrison building and later, the well-known and loved D.C. Frietze grocery store. The historic building is one of Mesilla's oldest adobes and is permeated with sense of history and story that is the heart of the southwestern landscape.

The sale will feature new, used and first edition out of print books as well as artwork including a signed silkscreen of Rudolfo Anaya’s cover from Tortuga, his third novel, and a signed broadside from another book, Lord of the Dawn. One, three and five-dollar book tables will delight book lovers. A large collection of Spanish language books and magazines from Cuba, México and other Latin American countries will be featured. Bilingual children’s books, southwestern, regional and Chicano/Latino literature are a staple at the Cultural Center also known as Lucha Libre Mask Central. Books by 2008 featured festival authors are available as well as signed first editions by Barbara Kingsolver, John Nichols and Edward Abbey, among others. A signed lithograph by Xavier Garza, author and illustrator of Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask, will also be available.

The Center offer sodas and paletas, Mexican fruit popsicles, made locally by La Reyna Michoacana, a family owned business. The Center carries the work of painter Jean Buchanan, photographer Daniel Zolinsky and CDs by festival artists Perla Batalla, Consuelo Luz and others. A collection of over 700 Mexican lobby cards and posters are available as well as Make Tacos Not War t-shirts, pins, bumper stickers and bags by San Antonio artist, Alejandro Díaz. A special jewelry and art table will be set up during this annual sidewalk sale. Tired of the heat? Come and find a good book to pass the time.

For more information on the book and art sale or to make book and art donations, contact the CCM at:
575-523-3988, bbf@zianet.com www.borderbookfestival.org