we also want to introduce you to les stanford, author and ana menendez.you wrote a book called in cuba i was a german shepherd. how you come up with a title like that and what does that mean?that mea [laughter] >> it's a punch line to a joke that i heard when i was in a reporter. i used to cover little havana my first time at the harold and it was a joke that tony lopez, really wonderful sculptor told me. i didn't know how to do it. it stayed with me and when i left and began to write fiction, i said i'm going to write a whole story, you know, revolving around this joke. >> what is the master of fine arts and how do you get into your program at fiu? >> a master of fine arts is one of those degrees that i would hesitate to tell parents to send their daughters and sons to come to because the parents want them to learn how to sell bonds, do things that they can assure themselves will make their children a lot of money. you don't become a writer too become rich and famous, what we do is offer the opportunity for those people who can't do anything else to take

books and books owner and co-founder mitchell caplan will join us, along with les stanford. and the author of 20 books, including water to the angels. the man who invented christmas. and last train to paradise. also, miami based author and columnist menendez who includes, in cuba i was a german shepherd, and the last war. we're also opening up the phone lines as well as taking viewer comments on e-mail, twitter and facebook so you can be a part of the conversation. watch live on saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2's book tv. >>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies, and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >>> more now from the recent conservative political action conference. the next panel talks about how conservative students can effectively organize on college campuses. speakers include matthew spaulding, dean of hillsdale college, and morris jones, and a host for the blaze tv network. this is just over half an hour. [ applause ]