Martín Prechtel’s latest book, “The Toe Bone and the Tooth,” is a story within a story within a story that chronicles his dramatic getaway from war-torn Guatemala with his family.

He calls storytelling “cultural medicine.” Martín Prechtel, a Native-American spiritual healer, artist and teacher, will give a presentation about the healing qualities of stories at U.Va. on March 24, in conjunction with the Virginia Festival of the Book.

Prechtel grew up on a Pueblo reservation in New Mexico and eventually settled in a village in Guatemala. He became a village leader and was responsible for instructing the young people of Santiago Atitlan in the meanings of their ancient stories that were part of adult rites of passage. He eventually left the village in the face of a civil war.

Prechtel, whose books include the autobiographical “Secrets of the Talking Jaguar and Long Life,” “Honey in the Heart,” and his latest, “The Toe Bone and the Tooth,” has returned to New Mexico, but travels extensively, teaching. Through story, music, ritual and writing, he seeks to help people get in touch with their past to renew their cultural identity while living in the present.

Prechtel’s visit is sponsored by an ad hoc faculty committee dedicated to enhancing diversity at U.Va. and led by Rachel Saury, director of the Arts & Sciences Instructional Technology Center, and John Alexander, ITC manager of classroom technology. Several other offices and agencies are co-sponsoring, including the Vice Provost for International Affairs, the Center for the Study of Alternative and Complementary Therapies, the Latin American Student Organization and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

The Toe Bone and the Tooth: Story as Cultural Medicine, presented by Martin Prechtel, March 24, 7-9 p.m., Rouss Hall Rm. 202