ALBUQUERQUE – Rudolfo Anaya’s famed novel Bless Me, Ultima, one of the most recognizable works of Mexican-American literature, is being made into an opera.

National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque announced this week that it is collaborating with Opera Southwest to commission the new opera based on Anaya’s book set in New Mexico.

The opera will be written by California-based composer Hector Armienta and is slated to be produced in 2018.

Center Executive Director Rebecca Avitia says Bless Me, Ultima is a magic piece of literature that she can see as an opera production.

Avitia says she hopes the project will draw more Latinos to opera.

Experts believe Anaya’s novel sparked the Chicano literary movement in the late 1960s and influenced a generation of Latino writers.