Candy-colored cars gleamed in the sun at the Santa Barbara Public Library for a unique Saturday show featuring lowriders and literature.
Out front, visitors walked among the classic and custom cars carefully restored by members of the Nite Life Car Club. There was a ’50s era Cadillac coupe with a green-flaked hard-top roof, a surf-green Chevrolet Bel Air, cherry-red ’60s Impala, and a deep purple Monte Carlo with chrome-spoked wheels.
Inside, people browsed archived photos of past Nite Life events, as well as artwork curated by Latino artists Jacqueline Valenzuela and Elizabeth Munzón as part of Raíces y Sueños, a library storytelling series celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
Saturday’s event included a reading by author and cultural critic Myriam Gurba, known for her deeply personal and raw writing style, who draws heavily from her experience growing up in Santa Maria.
Gurba sat in front of a pair of uniquely Mexican-American ceramic sculptures — an oversized clay piece of the corner-store favorite Gansito (the chocolate-frosted yellow sponge cake with the bright-red jelly filling) and an equally large recreation of an “aqua de jamaica,” the sweet hibiscus tea sold in roadside juice stands, served in a clear plastic bag with a straw.
Gurba’s words, like the art in the gallery, had a distinct dark humor and reverence for Latino heritage. She read three pieces chosen from her memoir, Mean, her most recent book, Poppy State, and her award-winning essay collection Creep: Accusations and Confessions.
Gurba then sat for an interview about her work, which often explores identity, culture, trauma, and her complex love for Central California. In recent years, Gurba has earned a reputation as a writer unafraid to question dominant narratives, and she has had several essays go viral, including one challenging Joan Didion’s place as the quintessential California writer.
“For a very long time, I avoided humor writing, and I thought that humor had no place on the literary page,” Gurba said. “But as a result of that, my work was really dry and boring. And I think that a lot of people’s work suffers from that because so many of us are so desperate, especially artists and writers, to be taken seriously.”
For more information on the library’s Raíces y Sueños event series, visit sbplibrary.org/raicesysuenos.
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