The University of Arizona Press
Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Time: 2 p.m., MST
Where: Arizona History Museum, 949 E. 2nd St., Tucson, AZ
Mele Martinez, author of The Molino: A Memoir, will give a book talk as part of the Arizona Historical Society’s Celebration of Tucson / S cuk-son 250+ that commemorates Tucson’s regional history in 2024 and 2025. 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 will be held at the Arizona History Museum.
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.
