Maceo Montoya, Copilot Press, and the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative

Last fall I was invited to engage with a remarkable work of art. When I was done, I wrote:

"[W]here does it all come from, Andrés? The images, the words?" Posed early on, the question unleashes a mestizaje-of-a-tome--that is: a book that marries word and image, prose and poem: a hybrid work of art as personal and vulnerable and moving as anything I've read in a long while. This is risky writing, maybe even counter-intuitive if one is pre-occupied with forging a certain kind of "career." I couldn't stop reading, continuing to the end in one sitting. Maceo Montoya, the artist-writer, opens multiple fronts: dialogues with the living (father, art critic, lover); dialogues with the dead (beloved brother); indelible images from my native California--too often overlooked. But the exquisite prose poem narratives--unapologetic romanticismo in my view--are what completely won me over."

That was/is my two cents for LETTERS TO THE POET FROM HIS BROTHER, Maceo Montoya's new book, published by California-based Copilot Press. 

But what came next was an act of generosity which, given the subject-matter of the book, did not surprise me. Maceo agreed to donate his share of the proceeds from the sale of the first 300 books to the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative. Specifically, the proceeds are being earmarked for the one-day symposium Letras Latinas intends to carry out upon the publication of Andrés Montoya's posthumous collection of poems, edited by Daniel Chacón, and slated for publication with Bilingual Press.

Up until now, the money we've been raising for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative has been coming from sale of Malaquias Montoya's "Untitled," a silkscreen print inspired by Andrés' poetry. Those who have been able to afford its price tag have generously contributed.

But Maceo's generous gesture is going to allow people to join the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative for what we think is a very reasonable amount: $25, and that gets you this gorgeous book.

But there's more, in the same fashion that we have asked folks who acquired the print to have a photograph of themselves taken with it, we are inviting folks to have a photo taken with Maceo's new book in order to contribute to a photo gallery at Copilot Press' website. Here's the photo I contributed:

So, please head on over to Copilot Press, order LETTERS TO THE POET FROM HIS BROTHER, and when it finds its way into your hands, follow these instructions, and join us. Gracias!

FA

.

Poetry & Art: part of Letras Latinas' DNA from the start...

In the Fall of 2003 I was only a few months on the job at the Institute for Latino Studies (ILS) when Notre Dame received a visit from Dana Gioia, who'd recently been named Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). With the help of a friend who knew Gioia well and who worked on campus, we were able to set up a breakfast meeting with the NEA Chair. Those in attendance included my former boss, Gil Cárdenas, who is one of the foremost collectors of Latino art in the United States. It was at that meeting that Gioia encouraged us to develop projects that fostered "conversation" between between different artistic disciplines. And so, in the months that followed, we developed what would become, Poetas y Pintores: Artists Conversing with Verse. It was an initiative that asked visual artists to dialogue, if you will, with text, and from that engagement, create new art.

This idea is one of the cornerstones of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative (AMPPI). That is: we asked Malaquias Montoya to re-visit---engage with---the poetry of his late son, Andrés. The result, as we know, is "Untitled," which includes lines from one of Andrés' poems reproduced across the top of the silkscreen print that Malaquias created. The other cornerstone of AMMPI is, I would argue, an intentional effort at community-building. In other words, while the practical outcome of AMMPI is to raise funds to assist with various projects that enhance and keep alive the legacy of Andrés Montoya's work, including the national prize that bears his name, an ancillary result is that a group of people---Latino writers and and allies of Latino writing, mostly---are acquiring "Untitled" and thereby becoming a part of this community, which Letras Latinas Blog has been visually documenting. When it's all said and done, it will be a finite community: there are only 50 prints. We just recently shipped print number 29 and 30, respectively---one to another Latino fiction writer, and the other to a poet and translator who is an indelible ally of Latino writing. As soon as they photograph themselves with their prints, we'll post their pics and thus reveal their identities.

In the meantime, a very recent addition is someone who has deep ties to both Latino poetry and the visual arts. He's someone I had the immense pleasure of sharing the stage with a few years ago in Buffalo at a joint reading we gave. More recently, in Tucson, AZ,  we shared a stage where my role was that of literary curator. He'd been on my list of people to invite from day one, but I only recently finally got around to asking. As I had anticipated, he said YES in a heartbeat:

Roberto Tejada

But to be clear: one doesn't have to be explicitly invited to join this community. As I said in an earlier post, it's been a pleasure to witness how a handful of folks, of their own accord, simply asked to join. But if I do ask someone to join, I try to make clear that I'm not asking him or her to do something I haven't already done myself:

Francisco Aragón

And speaking of poetry and art...If Poetas y Pintores: Artists Conversing with Verse created a space for visual artists to be inspired by text,  "PINTURA : PALABRA, a project in ekphrasis," seeks to reverse that equation---specifically through: "Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art," an exhibit that opens in Washington, D.C. in late October and goes until early March of 2014 before traveling to Miami, and further down the line to Salt Lake City...We'll be sharing more about PINTURA : PALABRA in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please consider joining Roberto, myself, and nearly 30 others:

Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative

Prose writers supporting Andrés Montoya

When this Initiative was conceived, the plan was to enlist the support, above all, of fellow literary artists. Thus far, most of these have been poets since the principle beneficiary of this gesture is Latino poetry's first book prize. But I wanted to take a moment and single out for a special expression of appreciation those prose writers (novelists, short story writers, and memoirists) who have stepped to the plate. My hope is that their numbers will gradually increase as we move forward toward our goal of selling out "Untitled" by Malaquias Montoya---inspired by the poetry of his son, Andrés. My heartfelt thanks to:

Michael Nava

Benjamin Alire Saenz

Helena Maria Viramontes

Sergio Troncoso

Daniel Chacón

Lorraine Lopez

Fred Arroyo

John Phillip Santos

Sandra Cisneros

*

The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative

Join us.

The support continues: Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative

CONNIE HALES

Last March at AWP in Boston I had the pleasure of meeting, for the first time, someone who had taught Andrés Montoya at Fresno State University when he was a student there. I told Connie Hales about the volume of Andrés' poetry, edited by Daniel Chacón, that Bilingual Press was going to publish. I told her that our hope and goal was to hold a one-day symposium on Andrés and his work, upon the publication of this book, perhaps at Fresno State. I told her about the Malaquias Montoya print--inspired by Andrés' poetry--that Letras Latinas was selling to help underwrite the expense of publishing Andrés' book, and running the prize that honors him and his work. But also: the sale of the print was to raise funds to hold this aforementioned symposium. We have in mind inviting past winners of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize come read their work; inviting a young scholar to come speak about Andrés' work; perhaps even organize a panel, etc. It's all in the conceptual phase right now. All of this, I said, constitutes the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative. In short, a targeted fundraiser. Before I even formally, as they say, "made the ask," she offered to buy a print. It's feels particularly special when this happens: when someone offers to buy the print without even being asked. Since Connie is a former teacher of Andrés', this shouldn't have surprised me. It didn't. And yet, the norm has been asking individuals, one at a time, to join the circle of print owners that's been forming slowly over the past two years. We're over half way there, and the majority of folks have been fellow writers, like Connie. 

Have peek at the photo gallery to see who they are.

And speaking of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, our next deadline is January 15, 2014. 

Here are the full guidelines.

And who is the final judge, you ask?

Click here and find out who she is!

one reader at a time, one print at a time

Sergio Troncoso

There’s that expression: one reader at a time, when talking about expanding an audience for books, for literature, for our stories and poems….

The Andrés Montoya Poetry Initiative has been like that, in large part, as well, where the sale of “Untitled” by Malaquias Montoya is concerned. A stretch of time elapses, I write an e-mail, extending an invitation, outlining what the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative is…

We learn that our current (fifth) winner’s book, A Tongue In the Mouth of the Dying by Laurie Ann Guerrero has been adopted by Texas A&M, San Antonio College, and Palo Alto College as the selection for a joint college reading program for faculty, staff and students…

We learn that our first winner’s second book, Seven by Sheryl Luna, has just been shipped from the printer’s…

Expanding an audience for our stories and poems…one reader at a time.

The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative...one print at a time.

And speaking of Andrés…His good friend Daniel Chacón has edited, and beautifully prologued a posthumous volume of his poems, colon-ization, under contract with Bilingual Press, and slated to be a joint Bilingual/Letras Latinas publication—thanks to people like Sergio Troncoso…who said Yes/Sí…to my invitation…(

Others have arrived to the circle of their own accord, for which we are so grateful...)

Also in the works: a one-day symposium on Andrés upon the publication of his book. But we need your help to bring all of this to fruition.

Please consider joining
(there are 20 of us now!):

Sergio Troncoso

Richard Blanco

Diana García

José Antonio Rodríguez

Eduardo C. Corral

Valerie Martínez

Emma Trelles

Blas Falconer

Benjamin Alire Saenz

Paul Martínez Pompa

Fred Arroyo

Silvia Curbelo

Francisco X. Alarcón

Daniel Chacón

Lorraine Lopez

John Phillip Santos

José B. González

Manuel Paul López

Francisco Aragón

Sandra Cisneros

See them all pictured here, with their print!

Slowly but surely: the circle expands:

Diana García

José Antonio Rodríguez

*

The circle, thus far:

Richard Blanco

Diana García

José Antonio Rodríguez

Eduardo C. Corral

Valerie Martínez

Emma Trelles

Blas Falconer

Benjamin Alire Saenz

Paul Martínez Pompa

Fred Arroyo

Silvia Curbelo

Francisco X. Alarcón

Daniel Chacón

Lorraine Lopez

John Phillip Santos

José B. González

Manuel Paul López

Francisco Aragón

Sandra Cisneros

See them all pictured 

with their print 

HERE

Take a moment. Click below, and learn more. Join us.

Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Initiative