El veintitrés de enero/January 23rd

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Elvira Lindo! (1962-       )

Photo from Wikipedia

Elvira Lindo is an author, journalist, screenwriter, and actress from Spain* who currently lives in New York City (*because she is from Spain she is not considered Latino, which is a term used to group together many different people from Spanish-speaking countries of South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean). Lindo is well-known for her children's books featuring Manolito Gafotas (gafas=glasses, gafotas = BIG glasses). Manolito is a madrileño boy, the son of a trucker, and the books include humor, irony, and sharp social criticism. In 1996, Lindo won the Premio Nacional de Literatura Infantil and Juvenil for Los trapos sucios de Manolito Gafotas. A movie based on Manolito's character was released in 2000 (click HERE to see the trailer). In addition to writing books, Lindo has also written eight screenplays (and appeared in multiple movies). She writes a column for El País newspaper and often contributes to other publications. Her husband, Antonio Muñoz Molina, also a well-known writer, is the director of the Instituto Cervantes New York. The two met in 1990 and combined their families (Lindo had a son from her first marriage, Muñoz had three children from his). This 2004 profile in El Mundo (HERE) describes how the couple supports one another (Lindo on how Molina's attention to women's lives in his writing affects her: "I never could have gotten married to a machista man, like our fathers, for example, incapable of making beds or knowing so many of the little details of women's daily lives"). 

Born in Cadiz, Spain, Lindo was the youngest of four and lost her mother when she was just sixteen. She eventually went on to study journalism at Complutense University in Madrid before working in radio and writing screenplays and her Manolito Gafotas books. She moved to New York with her husband in 2004. Her latest book, Noches sin dormir, is a memoir of one difficult New York City winter. In this interview (HERE) she speaks about the snow and the cold that led to her sleepless nights and inspired the book (Fue un invierno muy duro, muy frío ... la nieve es muy bonita en sus dos primeros días... ¡y empieza a ser muy fea, muy molesta después! ... (It was a very difficult winter, very cold ... the snow is very beautiful its first two days ... and then it starts to be very ugly and annoying!)). Visit Lindo's official page (HERE) to read her blog, see a detailed biography, and peruse a complete list of her work.

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Other January 23rd birthdays:

From Villaraigosa's 2018 campaign site:
https://antonioforcalifornia.com

Antonio Villaraigosa (Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr.) (1953-      ): Mexican-American mayor of Los Angeles from 2005-2013, Chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Running for governor of California, 2018. See Time Magazine's profile of him in their 2005 piece on "The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America" HERE.

Franco De Vita (1954-          ). Singer from Caracas, Venezuela. Click HERE to see his live performance of Y te pienso. (So pretty!)

Arnoldo Alemán (1946-      ). President of Nicaragua (1997-2002) labeled "9th Most Corrupt Leaders in Recent History" by Transparency International.

Chachi Gonzales (Olivia Irene Gonzales) (1996-     ). American dancer, choreographer, and actress with Mexican roots. Her nickname, Chachi, comes from her family calling her muchachita (little girl) when she was younger. Won 6th season of America's Best Dance Crew with the group I.aM.mE in 2011.