Northern New Mexico writer Arellano dead at 67

*His last book, “Enduring Acequias: Wisdom of the Land, Knowledge of the Water,” was published earlier this month. VL

By Russell Contreras, Associated Press/San Antonio Express News

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Juan Estevan Arellano, a picaresque writer who captured the traditional agricultural world of Hispanic northern New Mexico and sought to give a voice to field workers known as “manitos,” died Wednesday.

His wife, Elena, said he died at the family’s home in Embudo, New Mexico, from heart failure. He was 67.

A Chicano writer who tried to showcase the unique culture of New Mexico, Arellano gained international acclaim in 1994 when he won the Premio Nacional de Literatura José Fuentes Mares prize in Mexico for his 1994 novel, Incencio.

It was a ground-breaking work because it was written in New Mexico Spanish — a fusion of Spanish and indigenous languages birthed out of the region’s isolation from exploration to frontier days, said Vanessa Fonseca, a University of Wyoming Latino Studies professor.

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[Screenshot courtesy Solstudios YouTube]

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