Denver Man Wins UCI Literary Prize

“El Corrido de Rocky Ruiz,” a novel by Manuel Ramos of Denver, is the $2,000 first-prize winner of the 17th annual Chicano Literary Contest sponsored by the UC Irvine department of Spanish and Portuguese.

A public awards ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. today in the Emerald Bay Room in the UC Irvine Student Center.

“El Corrido” is described as a mystery shadowed with unresolved ‘60s ideological struggles, which create conflict and crisis in the present. The novel embraces aspects of Chicano history and the continuing effects of the counterculture movement. Ramos, a Chicano lawyer, is deputy director and director of litigation for the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver. He has published several short stories and poems.

The $1,000 second-prize winner is “Cantho, a Love Story” by Ignacio M. Garcia of Tucson; the $500 third-prize winner is “A Voice in Ramah” by Graciela Limon of Montebello.

For more information, call Ruth Gratzer at (714) 856-5702.