Emily Perez
Letras
Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute
for Latino Studies, is pleased to designate Denver-based poet and critic, Emily
Perez, as a Letras Latinas fellow—in order to attend the inaugural US Emerging
Critics Workshop, which will take place in Atlanta, GA on November 4-6. Perez
will be joined by other emerging critics, all of whom will be mentored by
established critics from various publications.
The Emerging Critics program originated in the United Kingdom
in association with the Ledbury Poetry Festival, and was co-founded by the
UK-based poets and critics Sandeep Parmar (Liverpool) and Sarah Howe (London). The
alumni of the UK program went on to place work at such publications as The
Guardian, TLC, The Telegraph, and elsewhere. The publishing partners
in the US program include Poetry and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among
others.
"Since the Ledbury
Emerging Critics program began in 2017, our 12 critics of colour are
responsible for more than doubling the number of poetry reviews
written by people of colour—from 3.4% to 8.3% in less than two years.
But improving the numbers is only part of the program's aim
to generate a critical culture that is not only inclusive but
also knowledgable and representative of the diversity of poetry being
written today," said Parmar, who, along with Howe, will serve as faculty
at the US workshop. They will be joined by Don Share (Poetry), Parul Sehgal (NY
Times), Vidyan Ravinthiran (Harvard University), and Jeffrey Levine (Tupelo
Press).
Award-winning poet Ilya Kaminsky
will serve as the principal host in the pilot workshop in the United States. “Poetry@Tech, at the Ivan Allen
College, Georgia Institute of Technology is thrilled to host this gathering on
our campus here in Atlanta. We applaud this program's advocacy for greater
access for literary culture. It is crucial to support this on-going important
discussion of how and what value society gives to the arts, to expand reading
culture and to invigorate the wider critical conversation about literature and
diversity, “ said Kaminsky.
Emily Perez will be joined by
emerging critics Abraham Encinas, a graduate student at UCLA, and Shamallah
Gallagher of Athens, GA, whose criticism has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Gulf
Coast Review, The Rumpus, and
other publications. “I am thrilled to have Letras Latinas’s support for my
participation in the inaugural US session of the Ledbury Emerging Poetry
Critics Program. Not only will I meet some of my poetry and book reviewing
heroes, but I will begin to build a network of peers I can rely on to help
navigate my ongoing questions. My concerns range from the practical to the
philosophical, from mechanics to style. I feel like a self-taught
musician who will finally have a few lessons with the masters; these sessions
will inevitably hone my thinking and my craft. I am eager to absorb every
moment,” said Perez, whose poetry reviews have appeared in The Boston Review, The Rumpus,
and RHINO, among other publications.
As a poet, she is also the author of House
Made of Sugar, House Made of Stone, and the chapbooks Background Migration Route and Made
and Unmade.
“I’ve long admired Emily Perez’s
poetry criticism. I immediately thought of her when first learning of this workshop. Deborah Parédez and I were both present at the Poetry
Coalition presentation that Sandeep Parmar gave a year ago at Kent State in Ohio. At
its conclusion, we briefly conferred, and concurred, that Emily, a CantoMundo
fellow, would be an ideal candidate for it. We’re delighted that it's worked out. Letras Latinas is proud to be sponsoring her participation,” said Francisco Aragón, a faculty fellow at Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies.
Letras Latinas strives to enhance
the visibility, appreciation, and study of Latinx literature both on and off
the campus of the University of Notre Dame—with an emphasis on programs that
support newer voices, foster a sense of community among writers, and place
Latinx writers in community spaces.
To learn more about the US Emerging
Critics Program, please visit:
No comments:
Post a Comment