The University of Arizona Press
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2026
Time: 5:30-7:00 p.m., MST
Where: Pima County Historic Courthouse, 115 N. Church Ave, Tucson, AZ
Free tickets: Registration is required, RSVP here.
Melani “Mele” Martinez, author of The Molino: A Memoir, will speak at “Love of Lectura” at the Pima County Historic Courthouse in downtown Tucson. The event is hosted by Pima County Supervisor Andrés Cano & co-moderator Neto Portillo Jr. to celebrate literacy and culture with reading, conversation, and reflection. Each participant will receive a free copy of The Molino. Mele Martinez is a senior lecturer at the University of Arizona, where she teaches writing courses. Her family has lived in the Sonoran Desert for at least nine generations.
The event is free and will include light refreshments. Registration is required, RSVP here.
About the book:
Set in one of Tucson’s first tamal and tortilla factories, The Molino is a hybrid memoir that reckons with one family’s loss of home, food, and faith.
Weaving together history, culture, and Mexican food traditions, Martinez shares the story of her family’s life and work in the heart of their downtown eatery, El Rapido. Opened by Martinez’s great-grandfather, Aurelio Perez, in 1933, El Rapido served tamales and burritos to residents and visitors to Tucson’s historic Barrio Presidio for nearly seventy years. For the family, the factory that bound them together was known for the giant corn grinder churning behind the scenes—the molino. With clear eyes and warm humor, Martinez documents the work required to prepare food for others, and explores the heartbreaking aftermath of gentrification that forces the multigenerational family business to close its doors.
