U-M Anthropology Professor Ruth Behar presents on the extraordinary work of Rolando Estévez, a renowned creator of artists' books. Estévez was born in Matanzas, Cuba, where he still resides, and has created over 500 original books that are appreciated in Cuba and collected by the British National Library, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Library of Congress, as well as numerous universities in the U.S., Canada, and other countries in the Americas. At the University of Michigan, the Special Collections Library holds a major collection of these extraordinary books.

Behar will discuss the range of books that Estévez has created over the years; will explore her own intellectual, literary, and artistic collaboration with him over the past thirty years as a Cuban-American scholar and writer who returns frequently to the island; and will address the meaning of handmade books in our society today as we increasingly move toward digital books and the idea of the book as virtual rather than tactile. For further information, see the anthology Behar recently co-edited, Handmade in Cuba: Rolando Estévez and the Beautiful Books of Ediciones Vigía.

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