Little & Lewis show the high art of gardening, Jan 12, 2007

PEN Lecture & slide show by George Little and David Lewis Tuesday, January 16, 6pm Bellas Artes, Hernández Macías 75, 50 pesos

The next PEN lecture and slide show, “A Garden Gallery: Gardening from an Artist’s Point of View,” features the garden artistry and magic of George Little and David Lewis, known as Little and Lewis. 

George and David have been visiting San Miguel for nearly 25 years, calling it their second home but first love. They recently purchased a home here and have begun to explore the challenges and mysteries of gardening in the high desert mountainous zone of San Miguel. 

Their garden/gallery in Washington state sits on less than a third of an acre in a residential neighborhood on a small island in Puget Sound. The 14-year-old garden is an exotic oasis set among the tall native fir trees. This light-filled garden is full of tropicals and large architectural plants creating abundance and “rooms” that visitors can explore and discover.

The lyrical sound of water plays throughout the garden’s many water features. Their colorful concrete sculpture, created in their on-site studio, can be found nestled in the beds of plants and tucked behind the overgrown pots. 

Their garden is visited by nearly 4,000 people a year from all over the world. Besides their reputation for sculpture, Little and Lewis are well known in the gardening community for helping to create the “tropicalismo” movement: adding bold, saturated colors, large architectural plantings and “pushing the envelope” of what can and cannot be grown in a specific zone. Their frequent travels to Mexico, absorbing the light, color and architecture, have greatly influenced their work.

Little and Lewis have been collaborating on their unique concrete sculptures since early 1992. Their garden/gallery is one of the most photographed gardens in the United States.

Their color-washed concrete sculptures and installations can be seen in many books, magazines and on television, including Martha Stewart Living, The Victory Garden, and House and Garden Television.

PBS spent five days with them this fall filming a half-hour biographical documentary, to air in the spring of 2007, about their work and life. Their sculpture has been placed in private and public gardens and homes across the United States and other countries. Their first book, A Garden Gallery: The Plants Art and Hardscape of Little and Lewis, published by Timber Press, has become a runaway bestseller in the gardening world. It won a silver medal from the Garden Writers of America and is already in its third printing.

The book, which the PEN lecture will be based on, is their first written collaboration. It describes the evolution of their garden from a patch of grass to a mysterious, colorful living work of art. It candidly talks about the joys and trials of gardening with another person in what is often considered a soulful passion for one person alone. The book shares some creative, easy projects to add mystery, discovery and surprise to any garden. Most importantly, it encourages readers to explore their own creativity and add their own personalities and soul to their gardens, whether it is a single pot or many acres.

For a preview, visit their website: www.littleandlewis.com 

This event is the first of in the San Miguel PEN winter lecture series. Contributions of 50 pesos go to help PEN’s work on behalf of writers all over the world who are in trouble for what they have written. There will be a limited number of autographed books available for sale before and after the talk. For more information contact lucina@unisono.net.mx or call 152-0614.

2006: A year of “news” for the Biblioteca Pública
By Robin Velte

Last year was one of renovation, beautification and innovation for our library. San Miguel readers will have a lot to enjoy: new books, additional shelving, new areas and, the heartbeat behind it all, a software system that will take us into the 21st century.

More than 1,300 books in English and 600 books in Spanish were added to the library in 2006. The library’s board of directors budgeted approximately US$9,500 each for Spanish and English titles, as it did in the previous two years. 

An anonymous donor gave US$4,900 for English books in the areas of nonfiction, biography/autobiography and children/young adult. In addition, US$800 was raised at special Saturday sales of books in Spanish and English. 

More than 400 books in English are waiting to be included in the library’s catalog as soon as the new system is up and running. Here is a list of just a few of those waiting to be catalogued at the first possible moment:

Beauty Junkies: Inside our $15 Billion Obsession with Cosmetic Surgery (health & fitness) Blood Money: Wasted Millions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq, by T. Christian Miller (political science)

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (reference)

The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers (fiction)

The Emperor’s Children, by Claire Messud (fiction)

Few: The American “Knights” Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain (history)

Five Germanys I Have Known, by Fritz Stern (history)

Forgetfulness, by Ward Just (fiction)

History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism, by Judith M. Bennett (women’s studies)

Ines of my Soul, by Isabel Allende (fiction)

The Innocent Man, by John Grisham (true crime)

Killer Instinct, by Joseph Finder (thriller)

The Lay of the Land, by Richard Ford (fiction)

The Light of Evening, by Edna O’Brien (fiction)

The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones, by Anthony Bourdain (cooking, essays)

Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollen (cooking, social science) 

The Oxford Companion to Food (reference)

The Pearl Diver, by Sujata Massey (mystery)

Planet of Slums, by Mike Davis (political science)

Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl (fiction)

Spoiling for a Fight: The Rise of Eliot Spitzer, by Brooke A. Masters (biography)

State of Denial: Bush at War, Part II, by Bob Woodward (political science)

Storm Track, by Margaret Manon (mystery & detective)

There’s a Word for It in Mexico, by Boye Lafayette De Mente (Mexico)

Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, by Victor Sebesteyn (history)

A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City, Anonymous (historical diary)


There are also new atlases, almanacs, how-to guides, travel guides, poetry and children’s books.

Shelves had to be added to accommodate our growing collection. You will notice the difference in the Toni Gerez Poetry Room and especially in our beautiful Sala Quetzal where finally all of the LAS (Latin American Section) books have found a permanent home.

At long last, there is no sprawl of books into the hallway. New shelving in the nonfiction area has eliminated the need for those very high shelves where heavy books perched, ready to fall on unsuspecting browsers below.

Because books have been repositioned among the completed shelving, new guide letters and numbers have to be posted everywhere. Hopefully, by mid-January library patrons will more easily locate specific sections of books. (Now, if we can only find the perfect tape that will stick to the wood!)

The Spanish book shelves are packed full. At this time, there is no room to further accommodate new books. In fact, there is no space for new shelves. The Book Committee has made renovation of the Spanish book area a top priority for 2007. 

New areas were added in the English book collection this year. Teenagers now have a special place to browse when they are not looking for books in the adult section.

The Teen/Young Adult area opened for business in the Gloria Grant Room at the beginning of summer and has kept on growing. Some of the books in transit include:


The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I

The Boy Mechanic: 200 Classic Things to Build

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

Fiske Guide to Colleges 2007

Tamora Pierce’s Circle Opens series

First three titles in Erin Hunter’s Warrior series 

Invisible Allies: Microbes That Shape Our Lives

Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley



Travel aficionados will be able to browse more easily in the travel guides section, which has been moved to the Gloria Grant Room. Shelving is better positioned, and there is plenty of space for Mexico and Central America, the two most widely read sections. There are new reference guides that will remain on the shelves in their designated geographical areas for constant reader perusal. 

The French and German books have been moved upstairs above the poetry room to make way for the expansion of the fiction area, which has been very crowded.

Large-print books are now located in the poetry room. Empty shelves above and below the section will accommodate future purchases.

Finally, and of overwhelming importance, a new software system is being put in place. This sizable investment will make all the difference in this library, and the projected completion date is early February.

Have any of you who frequent the library ever thought, “I wish I could look at the catalog at home on my computer”? Well, by February, you may be able to do just that. Reserve a book too? Could be!

The new system, Absys 6, widely used in Spain, is reputed to be the best. Representatives from Baratz, the head company, spent many days here throughout November and December training staff and checking the configurations necessary for conversion.

One of the features of a library software program recommended by members of the Book Committee was a “user-friendly” catalog interface. Absys 6 has such an interface. It’s bilingual, for one. Library users will find their searches made easier because of the software’s “keyword” capability. An added bonus is that users will be able to see immediately on the screen whether a book is available for checkout.

When the program is up and running, library volunteers and staff will offer library members orientation sessions in navigating the new catalog. It will be a great start to a new year! 

Many thanks to the volunteers, too numerous to mention here, who serve on the book committees, who catalog new books, read the shelves, assist with culling, do inventory, straighten and clean. You are the backbone of the collection. 


Robin Velte is a librarian and has been head of the Book Committee since spring 2005.

Manuscript Contest for the 2007 San Miguel Writers’ Conference

Writers! Polish your fiction and memoir manuscripts and send them into the San Miguel Writers’ Conference by January 25 for a chance to win a personal meeting and critique by New York literary agent Joy Harris. 

Harris is president of the Joy Harris Literary Agency and represents award-winning and best-selling authors such as Sena Jeter Naslund, author of New York Times’ bestseller Ahab’s Wife and the highly acclaimed Four Spirits; Luc Sante, recipient of an Academy of Arts and Letters Award and author of Evidence, Low Life and The Factory of Facts and Whitney Otto, author of How to Make an American Quilt, Now You See Her, The Passion Dreambook, and A Collection of Beauties at the Height of Their Popularity, among others. 

To enter the contest, one must first register for the 2007 Writers’ Conference and submit, by 5pm on January 25, a one-page, double-spaced synopsis and the first 30 pages of your fiction or memoir manuscript. All entries must be in English.

The contest fee of US$30 can be paid online from the conference website using Paypal or by US check or cash in US dollars (or peso equivalent) at La Conexión, Aldama 3. 

Ten winners will be selected by a panel of judges and their work will be read by Joy Harris. Personal consultations with Ms. Harris will be held during the conference, February 24 and 25. 

New to the 2007 San Miguel Writers’ Conference is the Children’s Book Writers’ Review & Critique. Writing samples of 500 words (a manuscript, an excerpt, or a synopsis) will be reviewed by a published children’s author and authors will meet with him or her in a scheduled appointment during the conference. This meeting can be arranged for full-time conference attendees for an additional fee of US$75. It is not a contest. 

The 2007 San Miguel Writers’ Conference features a screenwriting panel and an exciting line-up of writers in many genres, including novels, memoirs and travel. Writers Tony Cohan and Chronicle Books editor-at-large Victoria Rock will be in attendance. See www.sanmiguelwritersconference.com  for more information.