Alfonso Domingo will discuss his book La Balada de Billy el Nino on Tuesday, May 3 at 12 p.m. in the Frank Waters Room 105 at Zimmerman Library. The lecture will be in Spanish. He will be introduced by Professor Emeritus Enrique Lamadrid in the UNM Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Domingo has written about the last days of El Bilito or El Chavito, the nickname given to Billy the Kid by the Hispanic people of Lincoln County, New Mexico, especially those that adored, protected and helped him.

The author has consulted all the sources of Hispanic origin about Billy to show this side of him and has incorporated into the book a series of unedited documents that cast a new light on the escape of the Kid and the motives for his assassination.

After years of research on the theme, Domingo has concluded that Billy was a young man in search of a place in the world just like others in New Mexico. He was an orphan, and like many in those times, he just wanted to find his way in life and have his own ranchito or little piece of land. 

The cover of Domingo's book La Balada de Billy el Nino
The cover of Domingo's book La Balada de Billy el Nino

The majority of Hispanos accepted him as one of their own. He was their hero because he defended them many times. They were the disadvantaged ones in their own homeland that the North American army had conquered only thirty years earlier. The life of Billy is a story of love, liberty, dignity, friendship, treachery and death that endures from century to century. Domingo's novel offers a deeper understanding of who Billy was and the values that he defended. 

Domingo is from Turegano, Segovia, Spain, was born in 1955. He is a journalist, international correspondent and war reporter, who has worked for newspapers, radio and television. He is also the author of a series of twelve documentaries, and is a specialist in the Spanish Civil War and post war era.

Domingo has published essays based on oral histories such as  El Canto del Buho (2003), Retaguardia (2004), and Historia de los Espanoles en la II Guerra Mundial (2009), as well as the biographical novel El Angel Rojo (2009). He is a co-author of El Vuelo del Cuatro Vientos (2003), and author of the book La Serpiente Liquida (2005) about the myths, rituals and shamans of the Amazon region.

His first novel, La Madre de la Voz en el Oido, won the Madrid Book Fair Prize. His other works and prizes include La Estrella Solitaria (Premio de novela Ciudad de Salamanca, 2003), El Espejo Negro (Premio Ateneo de Sevilla) and El Enigma de Tina (Premio de Novela Ciudad de Valladolid).

Additionally, a musical presentation of La Balada de Villy el Nino and a book signing follows the lecture, which is free and open to the public.