Letras Latinas Blog: Latino and Latina poets

Joe Jiménez wins Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize

Joe Jiménez

Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, and Red Hen Press, the Los Angeles area literary press, are pleased to jointly announce Joe Jiménez of San Antonio, Texas as the winner of the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize—an initiative which supports the publication of a second or third book by a Latino/a poet residing in the United States. Noted writer and critic, Rigoberto González, was the judge.

“Joe Jiménez’s poetry shimmers with arresting imagery and light, but its beauty is hard-won—a victory song celebrating the bittersweet journey of one who inhabits the queer space inside the Chicano heart. Among the many graces of this book manuscript is that its language feels at home in serene desert vistas and on explosive barrio streets. It recognizes guidance from the living and the dead, and its breath aches with longing and comforts like prayer,” read González’s award citation.

Joe Jiménez is the author of, The Possibilities of Mud (Korima Press, 2014), as well as the chapbook, A Silver Homebody Flicka Illuminates the San Juan Courts at Dawn, recipient of the 2011 Gertrude Press Poetry Chapbook Prize. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Poetry Prize. His YA novel, Bloodline, is forthcoming from Arte Público Press later this spring. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles and is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop in San Antonio, where he resides and teaches.

News of Jiménez’s win prompted Poet Laureate of Texas, Laurie Ann Guerrero, to offer these thoughts on his poetry: “Joe Jiménez’s vulnerabilities and raw truths mark the fecundity of and fluidity of masculinity. His is the work of a broken-open, risk-taking documentarian and demands that his reader enter openhearted as well. I am overjoyed that his work will now be in the hands of so many and, too, that we get to call him one of our own.”

Jiménez is the first Chicano/a poet to win the Letras Latinas /Red Hen Poetry Prize. Founded in 2012, the Prize’s previous winners have been DC-based Cuban American poet Dan Vera, Salvadoran-born, Los Angeles-based poet, William Archila, and Argentine-born, New Jersey-based poet Ruth Irupé Sanabria. "The fact that our winners, so far, come from such varied backgrounds speaks, I think, to the rich diversity of voices emerging from Latino communities across the United States," said Francisco Aragón, director of Letras Latinas and faculty member at Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies. "But I'm also pleased to have Joe join this list not only because of his fine poetry, but because of the work he does with youth. He's slated to teach the first ever Macondo Writers Workshop for youth this summer."

“I am grateful for this opportunity to bring attention to the part of the world I am from. Deeply, and with each of my bones, I love South Texas, and these poems, from the alligator gar and the cotton field rattlesnake, to the armadillo and the half-human owl, push me to question the loneliness of men, to ask the man I have been about the one I am becoming. I hope these poems stir thoughts and questions and joys, sadnesses even, because I believe life is richer when we ask these things of ourselves,” said Jiménez, after learning his manuscript had been singled out by González.

Red Hen Managing Editor Kate Gale said of the award, “We are proud of our partnership with Letras Latinas and to be publishing the groundbreaking work of Joe Jiménez.”

Jiménez’s award-winning manuscript will be published in the spring of 2019. In the spring of 2017, Ruth Irupé Sanabria’s Beasts Behave in Foreign Land, selected by Lorna Dee Cervantes, is slated for publication.

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.

Red Hen Press is committed to publishing works of literary excellence, supporting diversity , and promoting literacy in our local schools. We a community of readers and writers who are actively engaged in the essential human practice known as literature.

In April of 2008, I pitched an idea to Susan Tillet, the Executive Director of the Ragdale Foundation.

We were having lunch in Omaha, Nebraska as guests of the Bemis Center for Comtemporary Arts, along with others, at the invitation of Midwestern Voices and Visions---an initiative run by the Alliance of Artists Communities in Providence, RI. The objective of this initiative is to place artists of color in artist residencies---artists of color have never been to an artist residency.

But my pitch to Susan had a twist.

It involved Latino and Latina poets who are also literary publishers and/or editors. The idea was to place poets in residence together to allow them to work and be in community. But we also wanted to curate a group who shared what I'll call "the editing bug"----those poets who are also very much invested in getting other poets into print, Latino/a and non-Latino/a alike. We were posing a question: What would happen if we brought a group of these poets together and set up very loose and informal conversations about editing and publishing and Latinidad, in addition to allowing them to use their time as they saw fit?

This idea (experiment really), with assistence from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), is what was played out for one week in Lake Forest, IL at Ragdale recently. Had the NEA awarded the full amount we had requested, the group would have been larger and the residency would have been for two weeks. In the end, one week seemed just about right for this initial gesture, and eight poets seemed a nice intimate number as I hope the photos that follow will convey.

My sincere thanks to David Dominguez, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Roberto Harrison, Raina J. León, J. Michael Martinez, Maria Melendez, and elena minor for saying Yes.

***

Ragdale has a nice custom of inviting their residents to display (and consider donating) any of their books. They are available for residents to browse and read during their stay, which is what ended up happening in many instances.

Some might argue that the highlight of any time spent at Ragdale are the delicious meals prepared by Linda Williams, which she lays out every evening for a 6:30 PM communal meal.

Table talk, then, was a special time:

Table talk away from dinner, too...

On our last morning together, David rose early

and made us breakfast: chorizo con huevos,

with a generous stack of tortillas

***

After dinner, on three of the nights that we were there, we retired into the living room for our evening discussions. Over two nights, everyone had a turn at presenting to the group their particular journal or press. An informal Q & A followed. The discussions that followed were unscripted and free-ranging around the topic of Latinidad and publishing. Two words that generated particularly engaging talk: "accessible" and "innovative." On a third night, last Monday, we talked about what might happen with our collective (with an eye, of course, of inviting and welcoming other Latino and Latina poets who are also publishers and/or editors) post-Ragdale...

***

And yet, most of the time we were there, our time was our own and spent on whatever writing (or reading) projects we felt drawn. Everyone had their own work space:

Raina shared with group the origins of The Acentos Review, an online journal for Latino writers, which she co-edits with Rich Villar. The Acentos Review has graciously agreed to host us on their links page.

Raina also offered, throughout the week, a lot of the insights she has derived from her rich experience in teaching youth, including in Las Vegas, and currently in Germany.

David is the poetry and non-fiction editor, as well as the co-founder of, The Packinghouse Review, a print journal housed in California's Central Valley. He shared with us how this journal serves as a textbook in a number of composition classes at Reedley College, where he teaches. He also conveyed his passion for working towards improving the academic and vocational outcomes for Latino and Latinas in the U.S.

Carmen spoke about her work as Editor-In-Chief of Puerto del Sol, where she delegates substantial editorial responsibilities to her graduate students in order for them to feel more invested and take more ownership of the journal, but always under her guidance. And she spoke to us about Noemi Press, where her editorial vision, if I heard her correctly, leans towards providing more space for women to publish their poetry and prose.

Roberto's editorial and curatorial activities involved the journal Crayon, which he co-edited with Andrew Levy, and currently Bronze Skull Press chapbooks, as well as his Milwaulkee-based Enemy Rumor Reading Series. What was particularly insightful and moving about his trajectory as an editor and curator was how these activities were and are informed, above all, by his desire to create community with other writers.

I gave a thumbnail sketch of Momotombo Press and how my experience with the Chicano Chapbook Series, as well as the mentoring I received from Gary Snyder at UC Davis informed my desire to cultivate the chapbook as a way to promote emerging voices. I also underscored that my role with Momotombo Press is now solely as publisher--through Letras Latinas--and that the editorial vision has been assumed by Maria Melendez, who has recently identified the next Momotombo author.

Breach is the word. It is an idea hatched by both J. Michael Martinez and Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize winner Gabriel Gomez. He described Breach Press as a new venue for Latino writing. He shared with us the experience of putting together the online work, "LaChiPo: a Decolonial Poetics," and the lively discussion this curated collective essay has generated. Breach Press's mission, as I understand it, seeks to stretch the canvas of Latino writing and to challenge the notion that there is an aesthetic division in Latino letters.

Maria shared how she came to assume the helm of Pilgramage, a project she described as "a community-in-print serving an eclectic fellowship of readers, writers, artists, naturalists, contemplatives, activists, seekers, adventurers and other kindred spirits"! Maria, who served as a co-faciliator during our week at Ragdale, was particularly diplomatic in helping us navigate our around the terms "innovative" and "accessible" during our general discussions.

I don't think I speak for myself only when I say how inspiring it was to hear about how PALABRA started, and how far it's come in its six numbers. Among the insights that stays with me about elena's editorial philosophy is the notion of opening the door to those pieces of writing that other editors might not consider "polished" enough to merit publication. In other words, PALABRA is open to the idea of creativing a space for writing at its various stages.

***

Our time together culminated with group reading, "Ocho Poetas," a wonderful way to wind up the week, reading to each other and a number of special guests, including Ragdale board member, fellow poet and co-editor of the journal Rhino, Ralph Hamilton. It was also great to meet for the first time John Alba Cutler, a young professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o and comparative literatures at Northwestern University. I might also add that the evening included a special announcement about a new initiative
that involves Latino poetry and counts on the collaboration of Red Hen Press
and Ragdale. Details to follow.