Your daily dose of Chicano poetry
"I write poems on walls that crumble and fall
I talk to shadows that sleep and go away crying.”
Luis Omar Salinas (1937–2008)
Juan Felipe Herrera’s “Half of the World in Light” collection wins the International Latino Book Award
RIVERSIDE, Calif. Juan Felipe Herrera, poet and professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, received the International Latino Book Award for Best Poetry in English for his most recent book “Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems.”(Media-Newswire.com)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Juan Felipe Herrera, poet and professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, received the International Latino Book Award for Best Poetry in English for his most recent book “Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems.”The award ceremony was held during the BookExpo America 2009 in New York City.“Professor Herrera’s winning the International Latino Book Award for poetry really is frosting on the cake since this splendid little volume had already been honored by the National Book Critics Circle award for poetry,” said Charles Whitney, professor and chair of the Department of Creative Writing. “UCR and the department are very, very proud of him and for him.”
“Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems” includes poems from earlier collections as well as previously unpublished work, and was published in July 2008 by the University of Arizona Press. Herrera received the National Book Critics Circle Award in March for the title.Herrera, who holds the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Creative Writing, has written 24 books – from children’s literature to poetry – produced plays and promoted the literature of other Chicano writers. He has more than 100 articles, poems, reviews and essays in print. Among his award-winning books are “187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border,” “Downtown Boy,” “Calling the Doves,” “Crashboomlove” and “Featherless/Desplumado.”
Media-Newswire.com – Press Release Distribution – PR Agency
Visit Juan Felipe Herrera
Bárbara Renaud González’s “Don Enrique Rendon, the Master Woodcarver at 91 years, San Antonio, Tejas”
San Antonio poet Bárbara Renaud González has a poem in the San Antonio Express News today. Read it HERE. González’s first novel, “Golondrina, Why Did You Leave Me?” was published in April by the University of Texas Press.
Luis Alberto Urrea’s “Into The Beautiful North”
Lunch Poems – Luis Rodriguez
Books by Luis J Rodriguez
[and from e-poets.net]
Rodriguez’ work speaks of Latinos’ disenfranchisement and pursuit of empowerment in the United States in a voice that is faithful to its culture, unapologetic, and proud. His writing remains accessible to the broader Anglo society in which it lives. In 2000, Rodriguez moved his immediate family from Chicago back to Los Angeles to be closer to relatives, and to continue his writing energized by his experiences decades before. His mission through Tia Chucha then evolved into a café, bookstore, and arts center. Further information on Rodriguez can be found at the author’s own website.
Audition these poems by clicking on the titles:
- A Procession of Limbs
- Eva sitting on the curb with pen and paper before the torturers come to get her
(A conversation with P.Z.) - from Trochemoche
- Meeting the Animal in Washington Square Park
- from Trochemoche
- My Name Is Not Rodriguez
- Pedazo por Pedazo (“Step by Step”)
- The Old Woman of Mérida
- from Trochemoche
- Victory, Victoria, My Beautiful Whisper
- from Trochemoche
Xican@ Poetry Daily 