Sheryl Luna and Dan Vera, two Letras Latinas book prize winners, invite writers o dialogue

Sheryl Luna interviews 3 Latina Writers

Sheryl Luna

Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize winning author, Sheryl Luna moderates an interview for VIDA, the literary blog of the national literary organization Her Kind, and which features poets Carmen Giménez-Smith, Cynthia Cruz and short story writer Christine Granados, in conversation with one another.

Titled “Beyond the Folkloric,” this groundbreaking document provides a space for these three writers to engage in a conversation that brings a thoughtful and critical analysis of the literary critique (whether this be the existence or lack of one) and the general reception among publishers and supporters of the diverse body of literature currently being created by those writers who happen to be Latina.  Whether calling for more women and/or Latino/a writers to engage in the writing of literary criticism as Carmen Giménez-Smith does or in the need to engage in a critical “debate” that brings into question the old tropes of Latino/a literature in order to “unleash the [literary] potential” of our communities as Christine Granados’ does or whether it is a call to privilege one’s craft and writing as Cynthia Cruz does these three writers make clear their devotion to language and to craft and to the fact that men are not the only representative of minority voices.

            [Continue Reading.]

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Dan Vera invites Xánath Caraza to take part in The Next Big Thing.

Dan Vera

Author of, Speaking Wiri Wiri (Red Hen Press, 2013) and winner of the inaugural Letras Latinas/ Red Hen Poetry Prize, Dan Vera recently took part in, and invited Xánath Caraza to take part in, the self-interview initiative, The Next Big Thing. Beside being the author of the recently released collection of poems Conjuro (Mammoth Publications, 2012) Xánath is also a translator and contributor to a regular column (co-sponsored by Letras Latinas) titled “U.S. Latino poets en español” at Periódico de Poesía—an ambitious, online magazine founded by Mexican poet Pedro Serrano—and which aims at introducing the work of U.S. Latino/a poets writing in English to a Spanish speaking audience. The inaugural column features the work in translation of Tino Villanueva, accompanied a small piece of literary commentary by Xánath Caraza.

Although Xánath’s work has been previously featured previously at this blog, in an interview and book review that explores the language and craft behind Xánath’s use of the ekphrastic poem, Dan Vera in this interview makes it clear that Xánath is also an accomplished fiction writer.

Anchored around her manuscript Lo que trae la marea / What the Tied Brings In due to be published in the Spring of 2013 by Mouthfeel Press, this interview explores Xánath’s preoccupation with the lack of female literary voices in past and present literatures. The short stories in Lo que se trae la marea are grounded in the feminine but also continue—as is evident from Xánath’s poetry—the author’s on-going interest with ekphrastic works of art and with the historical and political figures of Latin America.

            [Read her self-interview here.]