Letras Latinas Blog: Letras Latinas @ AWP

About a year ago Rigoberto González in a blog entry for Harriet, at the Poetry Foundation website titled “Letras Latinas: Building Literary Community” wrote:

“If the poetry community at large seems tiny, imagine the Latino poetry community–it’s no degree of separation. Though ours is a virtual community that stays in touch via social media (and comes together at least once a year at AWP, during the annual Con Tinta pachanga), we are fortunate to have a year-round resource such as Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. It sponsors readings and other literary events, on campus and across the country.”

For me the annual Pachanga at AWP—co-sponsored this year by Letras Latinas and the Con Tinta writers collective—is the cornerstone of that experience. For an emerging poet like myself, AWP which this year had over ten thousand participants can feel overwhelming and intimidating. Having had the opportunity to participate in two AWP pachangas—the first one in Chicago honoring Pat Mora and the most recent one in Boston honoring Tino Villanueva—I can testify to how important these gatherings have been for me in building literary community. Participating in these pachangas has helped me feel, yes, welcomed but also helped me realize that the Latino/a literary community is one as rich and diverse and venerable as any other. Without further ado I’d like to share this picture gallery of the AWP 2013 Pachanga at Boston. (And a special thank you to Juan Morales, Rich Villar and Francisco Aragón for providing these pictures).