Courtesy of Marie-Elizabeth Mali: After-Reading Dinner

Brenda Cárdenas and Stephen Motika

Gina Franco

David Dominguez and his wife Alma

Scott Inguito and Emily (I believe)

Gina Franco and Steven Cordova

Urayoán Noel, LiYun Alvarado, Tara Betts, Rich Villar

*

THE WIND SHIFTS winds to a close...

The journey began in the winter of 2004 at a group dinner in Chicago during the AWP conference. Patti Hartmann, editor at University of Arizona Press, sat across the table from me and patiently heard my pitch. The 60-page proposal I later put together that summer included bios, poems, and a rationale for the book. The proposal went for review. A contract was signed. 2004 ended. 2005 came and went. 2006 came and went. In the meantime, I assembled the manuscript, another review took place, another contract was signed. And then the waiting began.

We had what I considered two launches: one took place in South Bend, IN at the home of Gil Cárdenas, my boss. Maria Melendez and Steven Cordova agreed to travel to the midwest to interview each other for the Letras Latinas Oral History Project, and then they read from the anthology in Gil's home gallery to a group invited guests, including Notre Dame's MFA students. Food was served. Libations flowed. The other launch took place at the CON TINTA gathering during the AWP Conference in Atlanta. Roughly half of the anthology contributors were present and each read a poem. Patti Hartmann was on hand and sold quite a few books. The Wind Shifts had arrived. This would have been the spring of 2007.

Shortly thereafter I put together and submitted a grant proposal to the National Association of Latino Art and Culture (NALAC). We landed a modest award, which we supplemented with private donations. We launched year One of "The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry ON TOUR" in February 2008 in Palm Beach FL at the Society of the Four Arts. My thanks to Richard Blanco for suggesting what ended up being, in the end, one of the tour's most welcoming venues. For year Two, we counted on the generosity of private donors once again, and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). My thanks to Ellen Wadey and the Guild Complex for submitting the consortium grant proposal, and for being our full partner in this enterprise.

The tour came to a close last night at Poet's House in New York. I wasn't there, feeling under the weather from an insane travel schedule. But reports indicate a good time was had by all. Thanks are in order:

Thank you to Rich Villar for stepping in to moderate the panel (in addition to already being a participant) at 6:30 PM. He was joined by Urayoán Noel, Gina Franco and Brenda Cárdenas. David Dominguez and Scott Inguito joined Brenda and Gina for the reading itself, which took place at 8:00PM

Thank you to Ellen Wadey, the Executive Director of the Guild Complex---our partner on this tour. She was able to travel to NYC for the finale and saw to final logistical details. Ellen is winding down her stint as ED of the Guild and she will be missed.

Thank you to Stephen Motika at Poet's House. I contacted Stephen about including Poet's House on this tour over two years ago! Stephen graciously organized the after-reading dinner at a nearby restaurant-café.

The meals, whether held after or before the readings, were an integral part of this tour: creating a space for the poets in the anthology to meet each other, often for the first time. Steven Cordova was present last night as I could hear his voice in the background when Ellen called to say how the evening had gone. I also know that Tara Betts was there, who made it to the dinner after her reading with Rachel McKibbens at The Bowery. I'm told that Poet's House video recorded the evening's proceedings. Stay tuned. I'm anticipating photos. Meanwhile, here's a quick visual re-cap from the past two years:

 

 Eduardo C. Corral reading at the King Library

at the Society of the Four Arts

in Palm Beach, FL (Feb. 2008)

 

 Sheryl Luna, Kevin Gonzalez, Eduardo C. Corral

at Society of the Four Arts

in Palm Beach, FL (Feb. 2008)

 

 Carl Marcum in Minneapolis, MN (May 2008)

beneath The Loft's marquee announcing The Wind Shifts tour.

 

 Emmy Pérez, Urayoán Noel, Francisco Aragón,

Carl Marcum, Venessa Fuentes (who works at the Loft),

Lorena Duarte (Loft board member) at the Loft

in Minneapolis, MN (May 2008)

      FA, Steven Cordova, Maria Melendez,

Deborah Paredez, Richard Blanco

      at Richard Hugo House in Seattle, WA

(Sept. 2008)

Paul Martinez Pompa and Lorna Dee Cervantes

at Moe's Bookstore in Berkeley, CA (Feb. 2009)

 

 Adela Najarro reading at Moe's (Feb. 2009)

 

Venessa Fuentes reading at Moe's (Feb. 2009)

 

 John Olivares Espinoza reading at Moe's (Feb. 2009)

 

 Paul Martinez Pompa and Venessa Fuentes

at pre-reading dinner in Berkeley, CA (Feb. 2009)

 

 Kevin A. González, Carolina Monsivais, Rosa Alcalá

at Decima Musa in Chicago (May 2009)

 

 Carolina Monsivais reading  (May 2009)

 

 Paul Martinez Pompa and Rosa Alcalá

at Decima Musa in Chicago (May 2009)

 

 John Olivares Espinoza, Brenda Cárdenas, Francisco Aragón

at the Kansas City Public Library before the penultimate reading (Sept. 2009

book signing in Kansas City after the reading (Sept. 2009)

*

Stay tuned for images from New York

And to all who made it to one of the readings in Palm Beach, Minneapolis, Seattle, Berkeley, Chicago, Kansas City, and/or New York:  Gracias!

A special final thanks, as well, to Scott Inguito, Adela Najarro, John Olivares Espinoza, and David Dominguez, for the anthology readings they organized and took part in, in California.

In Praise of Dialgoues: Check it Out:

POETRY JAM

Thursday, October 22, 2009 @ 7:00pm &
Friday, October 23, 2009 @ 7:30pm

Where is contemporary poetry is heading? Join us for this two day
poetry reading at the Mexican Cultural Institute 

and at The Writer's Center in Bethesda.

BILINGUAL POETRY JAM
 

MEXICO & USA
 

Mexico: 

Hernán Bravo and Alejandro Tarrab
 

USA: 

Reginald Dwayne Betts and Sandra Beasley

Day 1

Four young up-and-coming poets, two from Mexico and two from the United
States will each read their original poetry in an exciting and
illuminating back-and-forth of ideas, wordplay and creative expression.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 @ 7:00pm
Location: Mexican Cultural Institute
2829 16th Street, NW | Washington, D.C.
Blocks from Columbia Metro Station (Map location)
Free entrance | Street parking available after 6:30 pm.
RSVP: icmdc@instituteofme xicodc.org

Day 2

Don't miss this presentation of the latest bilingual edition of the
Literary Magazine Reverso "15 newest young poets of México"
(Guadalajara, México) with the editor Carlos López de Alba. Among
others, the issue features the work of Bravo and Tarrab, who will read
their selections from the magazine in Spanish, while Betts and Beasley
will read the English translations.

Friday, October 23, 2009 @ 7:30pm
Location: The Writer's Center
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815 (Map location)
Phone: 301 654-8664, Fax: 801-730-6233
E-mail: postmaster@writer. org
www.instituteofmexi codc.org

LA HISTORIA DE NUESTRA MUSICA

All I could see was an ocean of flesh and hair and teeth.
 

---Carlos Santana

On August 16, 1969 a little known band from San Francisco, Santana, performed at Woodstock. It became one of the most successful international debuts in popular music history. Santana's music was a a fusion of rock, blues, and Afro Cuban percussion---a fresh hybrid, but far from the first. In fact, the story of how Santana’s sound came to be stretches back decades to before [the time] these musicians and their audience were born…

---Jimmy Smits, narrator of Latin Music USA, opening of episode 1

Start watching here

Junot Díaz at Notre Dame: more pics (Photo Credit: Eric Nisly)

 In the Green Room

 

Decio Mainstage Theater

at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

University of Notre Dame

 

Thanking our sponsors, introducing the introducer

 

 Professor Marisel Moreno-Anderson introduces Junot Díaz

 

 

 

 

 

Q and A session begins

 

 

  On his way to the book signing

 

 

Junot Díaz

and Gilberto Cárdneas

(Director of the Institute for Latino Studies)

 

 

Scenes from Ana Castillo at UC Berkeley

A standing-room-only crowd filled UC Berkeley's Heller Lounge this past Thursday to hear and see noted Xicanisma writer Ana Castillo read from a limited edition Wings Press Chapbook and from her new work The Guardians.


YouTube videos from Ana Castillo's reading at UC Berkeley can be found here.



Flickr photos from Ana Castillo's reading at UC Berkeley can be found here.

City of Berkeley Honors Poet & Artist Rafael Jesús González

Photo © Jannie M. Dresser

City of Berkeley
Honors Poet & Artist Rafael Jesús González
Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 7 p.m.
Berkeley City Hall Council Chambers
at Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Allston Way and Center Street in downtown Berkeley

SF Poetry Examiner
By Jannie Dresser

An old hand-bound, brown leather book contains the poems that his mother, Carmen, typed and read from when he was a boy. Its pages are yellowed and thin but contain poems that he has loved all his life by classical Spanish and Latin American poets: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Juan De Dios Peza, Gabriela Mistral, Amada Nervo, and Rubén Darío among others. This early contact with literature meant that Berkeley poet Rafael Jesús González has “been writing all my life.”

On October 13, at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, the City of Berkeley will honor González for his contributions to the local community. For someone who describes himself as “something of a hermit,” González has long been active in progressive politics and the creative arts throughout the Bay Area. His political passions are focused on environmental and social justice issues, while a career in writing and literature has inspired many others to use their pens for both personal expression and political action. But, González is also a visual and performance artist. For many years, he has been the elder in a Latino men’s ritual group, Xochipilli, which sets the ceremonial tone for Oakland Museum of California’s annual Dia de Los Muertos festivities. González has contributed several art installations to the museum’s “ofrenda“ displays marking the indigenous celebration, also creating installations for the Mexican Museum and the Mission Cultural Center both in San Francisco.

Complete article can be read at the SF Poetry Examiner.

A few shots, more to follow. Photo Credit: Teresa Santos

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos to follow

My principal collaborator---Marisel Moreno-Anderson, assistant professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literature---says that today is like a wedding: you're planning for a year, and the day finally arrives.

The forecast had predicted rain, and although it is overcast in the morning, the sky gets clearer and bluer as the day unfolds. He's waiting for us as we enter the terminal at the airport and our first ten, fifteen minutes of chitchat is all in Spanish---not forced, just flows that way.

Main events are an hour and half charla with MFA students; an audio interview with Marisel; an evening reading, Q &A; and a book signing. The Decio Mainstage Theater holds 300 or so and it's full. Mostly students, but also the Dean of the Graduate School, the English Chair, Africana Studies Chair, ILS staff, etc.

A conclusion I easily come to: he's a consumate professional at engaging with his audience. What I mean is: his articulate and deft mingling of humor, andecdote and erudition is exemplary.

The line of people waiting to have books signed is longest I've seen at one of our events here, with the exception of Carlos Fuentes a few years ago.

I'll close with how he began:  he is generous in his expression of gratitude for the work that goes into organizing an event like tonight's. He seems to want to gently educate us that although the invited artist gets most of the applause, the work that goes on behind the scenes also merits appreciation and support.

It's work. It's teamwork.

Debartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC)

 

Decio Mainstage Theater (SOLD OUT for Junot Diaz's reading)

 (on the eve of a Letras Latinas event)


Good evening, and welcome. My name is Francisco Aragón and I direct Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies (ILS) here at Notre Dame. It’s especially gratifying to be co-sponsoring Junot Diaz’s presentation as we celebrate not only Hispanic Heritage Month but also the Institute’s ten year anniversary.

Having said that, his visit would not have been possible without our lead sponsors: the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA), which provided a Henkels Lectures grant, and World View, an initiative out of the Office of the President, which aims to promote constructive dialogue on issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and religion, through the arts. As the themes explored by World View have grown in number over the past two years, it has broadened its mediums, and tonight’s presentation is the first World View literary arts event.

We are also grateful to this evening’s other co-sponsors:

the Creative Writing Program in the English Department;

the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies;

the Graduate School;

the José E. Fernández, Hispanic Studies Caribbean Initiative;

the Department of Romance Languages and Literature;

and the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC).


A special thanks, as well, to Mirella Riley, Harriet Baldwin, and Coleen Hoover, for their assistance.

Finally, muchas gracias to Professor Marisel Moreno-Anderson, who has been instrumental in bringing to fruition an event that has been in the planning stage for over a year. Professor Moreno-Anderson will be introducing our special guest. Please join me in welcoming her.

***

The next World View event will take place in the Browning Cinema this Friday, October 9, 2009.  Goodbye Solo is a film that deftly explores the passing of a generation as well as the rapidly changing face of America. The film’s director, Ramin Bahrani will discuss his film and take questions from the audience following the film’s screening.

October 7, 2009, 8 PM: University of Notre Dame

Letras Latinas Presents

Junot Díaz

 Photo Credit: Lily Oei

More Information Here