We Are Now Open for Submissions.....

John Murillo

Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, is pleased to announce the Final Judge for the 2020 edition of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.

A collaboration with University of Notre Dame Press since 2004, the Prize supports the publication of a first book by a Latinx poet residing in the United States.

Our winners, judges, and books, thus far have been:

Sheryl Luna

selected by Robert Vazquez

for Pity the Drowned Horses (2005)

Gabe Gomez

selected by Valerie Martínez

for The Outer Bands (2007)

Paul Martínez Pompa

selected by Martín Espada

for My Kill Adore Him (2009)

Emma Trelles

selected by Silvia Curbelo

for Tropicalia (2011)

Laurie Ann Guerrero

selected by late Francisco X. Alarcón

for A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying (2013)

David Campos

selected by Rhina P. Espaillot

for Furious Dusk (2015)

Felicia Zamora

selected by Edwin Torres

for Of Form & Gather (2017)

Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes

selected by Ada Limón

for The Inheritance of Haunting (2019)

Some changes are afoot for this our 9^th edition of the Prize, which honors the legacy of Chicano poet Andrés Montoya.

SUBMIT

We will also, for the first time, be counting on the collaboration of two guest screeners.

 Statement from our Final Judge:

“I am both honored and humbled to sign on as judge of this year’s Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.  At a time when there appears to be an all-out war on brown people in this country—when children are caged, mothers disappeared, and fathers gunned down on the regular, not to mention the daily, less sensational, degradations of living under a white supremacist regime—it is as imperative now as it’s ever been that we make ourselves heard, seen, and felt.  Now more than ever we need our artists, our culture workers, our poets.  To play, then, even a small part in helping usher into the world one of these necessary voices is a privilege.  It is a sacred duty, one I will carry out to the best of my ability and treat with all the seriousness it deserves."

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John Murillo is the author of the poetry collections, Up Jump the Boogie, finalist for both the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Pen Open Book Award, and Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry, forthcoming from Four Way Books in the spring of 2020. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry, and Best American Poetry 2017 and 2019 among other venues.  His honors include a Pushcart Prize, the J Howard and Barbara MJ Wood Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Cave Canem Foundation, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.  He is an assistant professor at Wesleyan University and also teaches in the low residency MFA program at Sierra Nevada College.

Our guest screeners:

Poet, storyteller, and essayist, Roberto Carlos Garcia writes extensively about the Afro-Latinx and Afro-diasporic experience. His second poetry collection, black / Maybe: An Afro Lyric, is available from Willow Books.  Roberto’s first collection, Melancolía, is available from Červená Barva Press. Roberto is founder of the non-profit press Get Fresh Books Publishing and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Yesenia Montilla is an Afro-Latina poet & a daughter of immigrants. She received her MFA from Drew University in Poetry and Poetry in Translation. Her first collection, ,The Pink Box, was published by Willow Books & was Longlisted for a PEN award in 2016. She is currently a Co-Director of CantoMundo. She lives in Harlem NY.

 

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Poets Respond to Dolores Huerta Exhibit

Notre Dame partners with National Portrait Gallery and Library Congress for event featuring U.S. Poet Laureate

Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies (ILS)—in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Library of Congress’ Hispanic Division and Poetry & Literature Center—is pleased to present “Poets Unite!,” featuring U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, alongside poets Diana Garcia and Arlene Biala.

The presentation will take place in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:00 PM in the Portrait Gallery’s Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium. Additional sponsors include the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian Latino Center.

The poets will read work that responds to, “One Life: Dolores Huerta,” currently on display through May 15. “The themes of labor, migration, and cultural affirmation that are at the heart of the farm workers movement and this show resonate with the poetry of Herrera, García, and Biala. We are honored to have them respond to this exhibition,” said Taina Caragol, of the National Portrait Gallery, who conceived of, and curated the exhibit.

Like Juan Felipe Herrera, who assumed his U.S. Poet Laureateship last September and is Professor Emeritus at UC Riverside and author of more than twenty books, Diana García and Arlene Biala are both California natives.

García is the author of the award-winning collection of poems, When Living Was A Labor Camp (University of Arizona Press), as well as co-editor of, Fire and Ink: An Anthology of Social Action Writing (University of Arizona Press). Biala is the author of two poetry books: continental drift (West End Press) and, her beckoning hands (Word Tech Editions).

“When I learned about the exhibit last summer and thought about the circumstances of our newly named Poet Laureate’s early years, an event of these characteristics seemed wholly appropriate,” said Francisco Aragón, director of Letras Latinas, and faculty member at the ILS. “As with all our programs in DC, Letras Latinas is grateful to the Weissberg Foundation for their support,” Aragón added.

Well before the March event, Herrera, García and Biala each spent time with the exhibit as preparation for producing this new work. They will also hold a post-reading conversation on the issues and themes brought up in the exhibit, followed by a Q & A session with the public.

“This event will be a necessary moment in the ongoing and evolving discussion of and for non- violence. Diana and Arlene have key vision, experience and heart, and I’m thrilled I’ll be sharing the stage with them, said Juan Felipe Herrera, whose Poet Laureate project, La Casa de Colores, resides on the Library of Congress’ website: https://www.loc.gov/poetry/casadecolores/

Letras Latinas strives to enhance the visibility, appreciation and study of Latino literature both on and off the campus of the University of Notre Dame, with an emphasis on programs that support newer voices and foster a sense of community among writers.

Contact

Francisco Aragón

faragon@nd.edu

National Portrait Gallery announcement:

http://npg.si.edu/whats-on/events?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D117148268

Library of Congress announcement:

https://www.loc.gov/poetry/events/index.html#mar08  

An Interview with Juan Alvarado Valdivia

An Interview with Juan Alvarado Valdivia

Conducted by Roberto Cruz 

Cancerlandia takes us through the journey of author Juan Alvarado Valdivia and his fight with Mr. Hodgkin’s. Not only does it depict the fight between these two characters, but the author also delves into a seemingly new world he seems to move to after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. With a dark sense of humor, Juan Alvarado Valdivia takes us into his darkest days as both his personal struggles and his fight with cancer manifest themselves in his everyday life.

            The author takes us through his journey into Cancerlandia, a world made up of doctors and chemotherapy, while trying to keep in tact everything from his ‘normal’ life. The undoubted merger between Juan’s old life as well as his new one comes with outburst of emotion no longer able to be bottled up inside, but also a deep reflection of a bigger purpose as he continues to find comfort in his writing.

            Alvarado Valdivia ultimately takes us into a critical point in his life depicting some of his biggest through Mr. Hodgkin’s. Ultimately, it his will, loved ones, and his writing that help him battle with the biggest challenge he has faced in his life.

-Roberto Cruz ('17)

Throughout your book, which chronicles your life with cancer, not only does there seem to be closure with cancer itself, but also with some of the other issues you were facing (anger, drinking). Did winning your battle against cancer naturally help you find a way to cope with these issues? Do you think you would have become conscious of these other problems you found yourself to be facing if you had not had cancer and had to go through that whole process?

In a way, I believe the struggle to regain my good health helped me to address these other personal issues. I think overcoming cancer provided me with a mightier resolve. When you overcome such a mortal test, when you discover a well of strength you never quite knew before, it becomes easier to convince yourself that you can overcome other challenges. At least that's been the case with me.

I'd like to think that I would have eventually become conscious of my drinking and anger management problems, with or without the aid of my illness. But what really helped to illuminate those personal issues was being in a relationship with the ex-girlfriend I wrote about in my memoir in conjunction with being seriously ill. Our difficulties as a couple, coupled with the pain and suffering my drinking and anger caused us both is what finally made me realize, oh, I have a problem—and there has to be another way I can manage these emotions.

Mr. Hodgkin’s plays a very important role in this memoir. He was constantly brought to life by your own experiences and perceptions of cancer. What was the purpose of giving cancer this different dimension? Was this something that allowed you to think of cancer as something that could be more easily defeated?

Personifying my disease into a character I named Mr. Hodgkins was natural for me. I think it's mostly a result of going about life as an atheist. When I was diagnosed, I did not allow myself to blame God, or write it off to some notion of destiny that I could never prove or rationally explain. For me, being stricken with Hodgkin's lymphoma was and continues to be essentially a random happening; yet, shortly after I was diagnosed, I had a ton of frustration and anger over being the one afflicted with a rare blood cancer. And so, creating a nemesis gave me some sort of outlet to direct all this pissed-off-ness to. Creating Mr. Hodgkins—a foe—was in line with Western medicine’s combative approach towards cancer that I wholeheartedly bought into when I was ill.

In my book, I mention a Google search I did for the terms “Mr. Hodgkin and I.” And I was really pleased, and still am, to know that other folks afflicted with Hodgkin's lymphoma have also done the same. It certainly wasn't anything original of me.

You incorporate this sense of dark humor in your book and even mention that, that is part of your personality, was this used as a way of coping with some of the problems that you were facing?

Absolutely. A dark, twisted sense of humor has been one of my staple tonics for Dealing With Life for a long, long time.

Life is hard. In general—historically speaking—humans are a severely fucked-up species in my humble opinion. And so, laughter has been a way for me to cope with this reality. I've been on Planet Earth now for nearly thirty-seven years, and I've observed and convinced myself that folks who have endured the most suffering are oftentimes the ones with the gnarliest sense of humor—certainly the ones with the heartiest laughs. I think I've had a fairly easy life (so far), but laughter definitely helps me through it.

The book certainly made it clear that writing was an important part of who you were as a person; writing was something you never intended to give up even with cancer. Is there any connection between who you were, in terms of writing, before and after this experience and the way in which you express yourself in your writing.

Hmm, that's an interesting question. In terms of writing, in terms of expressing myself, I'm probably more bold about stating difficult or fucked-up observations about myself or the world we're a part of ever since I was diagnosed with lymphoma. I guess one of the benefits about having a deathly visitor is that it can allow you to be less fearful of expressing your truth because, well, if you don't do it now, who knows if you'll continue to have that opportunity? I may be in complete remission now but I think I haven't lost some of that fearlessness in my writing. At least I hope I haven't! Otherwise it'd be all for naught!

You’re very candid about the different types of relationships that you had with people you knew and people you met. How do you feel these relationships changed (or stayed the same) as a result of going through cancer?

Everything is always in flux, especially relationships. Some bonds were strengthened while I struggled to regain my good health and some relationships eroded. I was fortunate to have two classmates at Saint Mary's—two friends who were already familiar with the kingdom of the ill (in the words of Susan Sontag)—to drop some wisdom on me after I was first diagnosed. One of my classmates told me that being seriously ill would reveal my true friends, as well as those who weren't. She told me I would find out who would be there for me, and she was absolutely right. Death has a knack for revealing one's true self, even those on its periphery.

There are parts of this book, especially towards the end where you are left reflecting on your experience with cancer. Is your life post-cancer, and the things you keep learning an element that still affects your life today? Or was there complete closure when you finished writing this book?

I am fortunate to still be in remission. My experience from having and ridding myself of a life-threatening malady still has ramifications that play out today; they're like aftershocks from a ginormous earthquake—and I imagine they'll play out for the rest of my life, however long it may be. For example, I now have so much appreciation for simply being healthy. Being able to simply stand up and walk without being in pain is fucking amazing! I know my body is now on a trajectory of physical decline, but I'm more grateful than I used to be for the mental and physical faculties I still have. I also live life with a bit more urgency—both conscious and subterranean—but I think that's a damn good thing because the truth we all have to grapple with is none of us knows when our ride is going to end.

In terms of closure, writing the book—along with therapy—was instructive in allowing me to come to terms with how I would choose to look back upon that tumultuous episode in my life. Writing the memoir also helped to prove to me that being a writer is like the best in me. When I was sick, I wanted to live to write, to continue to create, and to hopefully become a kinder person to myself and others. Writing this book crystalized those wishes and beliefs, so there is closure with that.

Juan Alvarado Valdivia is a Peruvian American writer who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and raised in Fremont, CA. He is the author of ¡Cancerlandia!: A Memoir, which was listed as a Top 10 Best Non-Fiction Book for 2015 on TheLatinoAuthor.com. He received his MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College of California. This winter, he will be a resident at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. He lives in Oakland.

Follow these links in order to learn more about the author and his book!

Website: http://www.juanalvaradovaldivia.com/

Check out the ¡Cancerlandia! trailer: https://vimeo.com/nitofeito/cancerlandiatrailer