By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
Local author Rudy Garcia of Laguna Vista recently published a sequel to his book Shrimp Tales, Shrimp Tales Two. The Unruly Cactus, a book store near the Port Isabel Lighthouse, will host a book signing to celebrate
Garcia’s newest literary creation on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 1-3 p.m.
Garcia was born and raised in Port Isabel. Growing up in the heart of the city, from an early age he was inspired by the local shrimping industry, which centers his Shrimp Tales series. Almost every day as a young child, during what he calls the heyday of the Lower Laguna Madre’s shrimping industry, Garcia would walk along Port Isabel’s shrimp docks. He’d speak to the shrimpers as they unloaded their catches, many of whom he was familiar with.
“I think that’s what inspired the Shrimp Tales books,” said Garcia.
According to him, the original Shrimp Tales outlines the history of the shrimping industry in Port Isabel and Brownsville, from its inception to present time. The book was a mutual effort between Garcia and fellow author and Winter Texan Pat Avery. Garcia says Avery attended many of his public readings throughout the area, and was particularly fond of his stories and poems regarding shrimping. He made the suggestion of collaborating on a book together on the subject, to which she complied.
Later on, after the successful publication of Shrimp Tales in 2020, Garcia approached Avery once again with a proposition.
“I said, ‘Pat, I think we need to write something about the women that were involved in the shrimping industry,’” said Garcia. “They were, of course, a very important part of it.”
Within Shrimp Tales Two, Avery and Garcia explores the vital part and many roles women have played in the shrimping industry throughout its history.
“That was the inspiration for Shrimp Tales Two…I think they needed to be validated and acknowledged and written about,” said Garcia.
For two years, Garcia and Avery set about interviewing many women living in Port Isabel and surrounding areas who worked within the shrimping industry and compiled their stories together. Garcia says the book is
dedicated to these women.
“It’s gratifying,” said Garcia. “Not so much for myself, but gratifying in the sense that they have been acknowledged and recognized.”
Garcia says he’s been writing since his college years in the early 70s. His first pieces were all in Spanish, but he eventually transitioned to English, initially with poetry and moving on to short stories. Later on, he
collaborated on five separate anthologies with other writers living in the Rio Grande Valley. He has also published five poetry books.
Garcia has been working as a counselor for the Port Isabel Independent School District for over forty years.
Shrimp Tales and Shrimp Tales Two are available at The Unruly Cactus and on Amazon.
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