SEPTEMBER 25, 2008, Seattle, WA: spread the word

Letras Latinas, the Guild Complex

& Richard Hugo House

present

“The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry ON TOUR”

Thursday, September 25, 7 PM
@
Hugo House Cabaret

featuring

RICHARD BLANCO
MARÍA MELÉNDEZ
STEVEN CORDOVA
DEBORAH PARÉDEZ

Making its third stop on a multi-city tour—
4 poets read from the anthology that won

1st Place
(“poetry in English”)
at the 2008 International Latino Book Awards

Richard Hugo House is located at 1634 Eleventh Avenue in Seattle. Parking is available to the rear of the building and on the street. FREE. For more information, call: (206) 322-7030

The poets:

Richard Blanco 's first book, City of a Hundred Fires (University of Pittsburgh) was the winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. His second collection, Directions to the Beach of the Dead (University of Arizona Press) won PEN American's “Beyond Margins” award. His poems have appeared widely, incuding in The Best American Poetry and Great American Prose Poems , and have been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Blanco holds a BS in civil engineering and an MFA in creative writing. He lives in Miami, where he writes and works as a consultant engineer.

María Meléndez is the author of the poetry collection, How Long She'll Last in This World (University of Arizona Press), which was a finalist for the A PEN West award. She has authored one chapbook of poetry, Base Pairs (Swan Scythe Press) and edited two anthologies, Nest of Freedom and Moon Won't Leave Me Alone . Her work has been published widely, including in Puerto del Sol and International Quarterly . She is a contributing editor of Latino Poetry Review ( LPR ) and Momotombo Press. She lives in Logan, UT and teaches writing and ethnic literature at Utah State University.

Steven Cordova is the author of the chapbook Slow Dissolve (Momotombo Press) and the forthcoming full-length collection , Long Distance (Bilingual Press). A native of San Antonio, he has published poems in Art & Understanding , Barrow Street , The Journal , Callaloo and other publications. His work also appeared in the anthology, Ravishing DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English (Wesleyan University Press). He holds a degree from the University of Texas in Austin and works and lives in New York City.

Deborah Parédez is the author of the poetry collection, This Side of Skin (Wings Press). Her work has appeared in various anthologies, including Daughters of the Fifth Sun: A Collection of U.S. Latina Fiction and Poetry (Putman), This Promiscuous Light (Wings Press), as well as various literary journals. A native of San Antonio, she has lived in Seattle, Chicago, and New York City. She teaches in the theater department at the University of Texas in Austin.

This event is supported in part by the Ford Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Southwest Airlines through a grant from the NALAC Fund for the Arts. Letras Latinas is the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The Guild Complex is a community-based literary organization in Chicago.

***

PALABRA PURA

this Wednesday

September 17

features

TOMÁS RILEY

&

XENIA RUIZ

The Wind Shifts to Santa Cruz

"POETRY SANTA CRUZ
is a nonprofit organization
incorporated in the state of California.
We are unpaid volunteers
working to nurture the poetry community
and to bring poetry to the larger community
in Santa Cruz County.
We present poetry readings,
craft workshops for poets
and provide information on poetry events
and selected other events which may be of interest
to the community."

A heartfelt thanks to Adela Najarro for spearheading this special event taking place tomorrow (August 12). See who else from The Wind Shifts will be reading with Adela, and learn more about Poetry Santa Cruz---HERE.

"PALABRISTAS: Latin@ Word Slingers"

Carl Marcum and Lorena Duarte
(photo credit: Emmy Pérez)

Emmy Pérez, Urayoán Noel, Francisco Aragón,
Carl Marcum, Venessa Fuentes, Lorena Duarte
(photo credit: Jerod Santek)

Aside, of course, from the readings themselves, The Wind Shifts TOUR aims to provide occasions for anthology contributors to connect with one another---particularly among those who haven't met or those who have, but barely.

If the reading in Palm Beach in February allowed the featured poets to connect with fellow anthology contributor Richard Blanco, and local poets Emma Trelles and Rita Marie Martínez, the reading in Minneapolis introduced us to fellow anthology contributor Venessa Fuentes, and local poets Lorena Duarte (a board member of The Loft, and gracious Minneapolis tour guide) and, later in the evening, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria---both of them contributors to a chapbook anthology called Outside the Lines, and edited by Brandon Lacy Campos, Lorena Duarte, Tatiana Ormaza, and Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria and featuring "PALABRISTAS: Latin@ Word Slingers." (Rodrigo also gifted a number of us with his spoken word CD, DESCONOCIDOS, which I had the pleasure of listening to last night).

The preface to Outside the Lines, titled "Somos," articulates, towards the end:

"Palabristas formed to solidify our connection as Latino writers. But, it also formed with a desire to be teachers, activists, and truth-tellers. With a dedication to our community, we sought to form a group that would not only echo the hearts of Latino people, but also serve to share the beauty of our voices with the broader community. Our histories are mixtures of this land and El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. Our words are mezclas of Spanish, English and mismatched dialects from anywhere we called home."

Próxima Parada: Seattle.

PALM BEACH PHOTOS I

Special thanks to Majesta Adamu
at the Society of the Four Arts
for these photos:

Poets and public as the reading is being introduced by....

...Molly Charland
director of the Gioconda and Joseph King Library
at the Society of the Four Arts,
and creator of the "King Sling"

Francisco Aragón
Editor, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry
[opening remarks]

Eduardo C. Corral reads

Kevin A González reads

Sheryl Luna reads

Kevin signs a book as Eduardo looks on

One of our best customers that day, Perry,
with Molly in the background

The poets sign books

The poets sign more books

Sheryl engages a reader

Sheryl engages another reader
Richard Blanco engages Eduardo

The Group Photo

*
Gioconda and Joseph King Library
Society of the Four Arts
Palm Beach, FL
February 23, 2008

Palm Beach Recap: New Latino Poetry ON TOUR

One of the things we were a tad concerned about was the fact that the reading was scheduled for 11 am on a Saturday morning. Molly Charland, our host at the Society of the Four Arts, wasn't completely certain what kind of attendance to expect, though their poetry events in the past had done well. Weather would be key. Thankfully, it was a sunny morning as the four of us strolled out of The Chesterfield down Cocoanut Row to the King Library. We were told to arrive around 10ish for a sound check, though that didn't seem urgent when we got there. We had time to relax, take a stroll in their gardens, which are quite beautiful, and begin to have our first "King Sling:" Molly, the director of the library, believes that every library should have its signature cocktail, and the one we sipped that morning was called the "King Sling." I can't precisely remember what was in it, though I do recall frozen berries of a sort. Eduardo, do you remember what kind of berries those were?

The reading took place on the second floor, which one got to by elevator after walking past a special glass display case that held first editions of James Merrill, whose family had a home in Palm Beach. By the time we got started, which was a shade past 11, my guessestimate is that there were around 40-45 people in attendance---which is about what PALABRA PURA in Chicago averages (I'm increasingly less a fan of the mega crowds where poetry readings are concerned; I find myself enjoying more intimate spaces and audiences). In fact, I had assured Molly that equally important to this initiative (The Wind Shifts TOUR), in addition to sharing work from the anthology with the public, was providing an opportunity for poets in the anthology to meet and interact with each other. This was very much part of the grant narrative that I put together and it is one of the driving philosophies behind PALABRA PURA and, increasingly, the work I find myself doing at Letras Latinas: bringing people together.

And so yes, the reading was great. Eduardo, Kevin, and Sheryl all read beautifully. In addition to hearing them read their own work, Eduardo read a poem by Emmy Pérez; Kevin read a poem by Naomi Ayala; Sheryl read a poem by Gina Franco; I read a poem by Deborah Parédez as my contribution. The comments from the audience during our Q and A were glowing with regard to the work they heard performed that morning. At the reception back downstairs, it was gratifying to see our three poets seated at a long wooden table signing books---the anthology, Pity the Drowned Horses, The Night Tito Trinidad KO'ed Ricardo Mayorga---and interacting with the public. We sold around 20 copies of The Wind Shifts. One of Molly's assistants (whose name I am forgetting) took pictures with her digital camera which I hope to share here very soon. All this was great.

But equally great, in my view, was being joined by Emma Trelles, poet and journalist; Richard Blanco, fellow anthology contributor; and poet Rita Marie Martínez (author of the forthcoming, Jane in the Box, which was a finalist for the 2007 Noemi Press Chapbook Award) afterwards for our "salon meal." After the reading, the seven of us strolled over to Worth Avenue to Taboo, which became our choice space during our stay (Eduardo, Kevin and myself had a late dinner there the night before; Eduardo, Sheryl and I had a late dinner there the night before our departure). We sat at a large round table and had a wonderful time talking about a plethora of subjects, including Cuban American poets we were eager to learn more about, including a poet Emma and Rita mentioned, who is a firefighter and has an MFA Florida International University. This prompted me to tell them about Sarah Cortez and How to Undress a Cop. Kevin, Richard and Eduardo were having simultaneous conversations among themselves. Eduardo had never met Kevin before this reading. Richard had never met Kevin, either. I was meeting Emma for the first time, in addition to Rita, whose work I'm now looking forward to reading. Sheryl shared with the table what an interesting time she was having teaching African American literature in Colorado, and Zora Neale Hurston in particular. It was a pleasure to be able to convey to her how much Cornelius Eady and Joyelle McSweeney enjoyed 7, the manuscript she submitted to the Sandeen Prize and which is is now going to be published by University of Notre Dame Press. In short, the camaraderie that was enjoyed was as important an experience as the reading itself---creating the opportunity for it: that's what this tour is also about.

Of the 25 poets in the anthology, 23 have agreed to take part, for which I am grateful. All the players involved in this first installment, including the special guests mentioned, made for a memorable launch.

And finally, a heartfelt thanks to the Guild Complex and Ellen Wadey for her crucial logistic coordination in getting all the poets to Palm Beach. It's an organization I feel very fortunate to be associated with and with whom Letras Latinas has been partnering now for nearly threes.


Gracias, as well, to our two private donors who more than doubled the modest grant NALAC gave us, which got this ball rolling.

Next Stop: The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis on May 31.