A lecture titled “Laura Esquivel: New Directions” will be presented Tuesday by Karen Taylor, associate professor of foreign language, in the Martinsville room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union as part of the Latino Heritage Celebration.

“Laura Esquivel is very important. Through her writing she expresses the values of Mexican culture, especially the values of Mexican women,” Taylor said. “The presentation will be mostly a multimedia lecture with video clips shown throughout, a demonstration on cooking tools and the direction of the new author.”

Laura Esquivel is among the world’s most famous novelists, Taylor said.

Her first novel, “Like Water for Chocolate,” was a best seller worldwide that has been translated in all languages. The book was also made into a movie that has been a success in the U.S. and many other countries.

“The book talks about the importance of food and cooking in women’s lives in Mexico. In the book she shows how women express their feelings and emotions in cooking,” Taylor said. “She uses the literary technique ‘magical realism,’ which is when magic and supernatural are incorporated into daily life.

“In the lecture, I am going to talk about the novel and show short sequences of the movie so people will see how food has magical qualities in this movie. I will also demonstrate some utensils used in Mexican cooking that are used in the book and serve some Mexican snacks.”

Taylor will begin the lecture discussing “Like Water for Chocolate” and then move on to Esquivel’s recent novel, “As Swift as Desire.”

The lecture is titled “New Directions,” in reference to the change in direction Laura Esquivel has taken in her new book, “As Swift as Desire,” Taylor said.

“She is going off in a new direction. Her first novel discussed cooking and the roles of cooking in women’s lives. Her new novel is dedicated to her father. The entire novel is about communication between daughters and fathers and magical powers. It’s about an adult daughter taking care of her elderly father and the communication between daughters and fathers.

“From her father, the daughter learns the story of her parent’s marriage and about her father when he was young. She also learns her father had magical powers from his Mayan background to understand the secret meanings of what people say. Esquivel feels the powers come from the indigenous native population of Mexico,” Taylor said.