FIU Art + Art History chair honored for best art book


Juan A. Martinez (writer) and María Brito (artist).

FIU Art + Art History Chair Juan Martinez was awarded first place in the Best Arts Book category at the 11th annual International Latin Book Awards. The awards were presented during Book Expo America on May 25 at the Javits Center in New York, N.Y.

Martinez was named a Triple Crown Award Winner, a new designation introduced this year for those entries that swept the judges first-place ballots.

He was awarded first place in the Best Arts Book: English category for Maria Brito, a book about the famous artist’s unique interplay of the personal and the universal, highlighting her as an artist who challenges cultural, social, and artistic barriers.

“This award came as a wonderful surprise. I am happy that my work is recognized by an independent national panel of experts on the art of Latinos,” Martinez says. “I am even happier for the attention it will bring to Maria Brito’s art.”

Latino Literacy Now, a non-profit organization that supports and promotes literacy and literary excellence within the Latino community, created the Latino Book Awards in recognition of the many positive contributions being made to Latino literature by publishers and writers worldwide in 1999. The awards honor literary excellence in a variety of categories.