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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)

Ron Arias: Notebooks a family obsession

September 1, 2008

As near as I can tell, my writing habit began more than a hundred years ago on a cattle ranch in northern Mexico. That was when my grandmother, at seven years of age, wrote three words in a little notebook her mother, Cristina Terrazas, had given her: hoy murio mama. No capital H, no accent marks, no other details–little Julia Terrazas simply wanted to record that her mother had just died.

I was googling stuff on THE ROAD TO TAMAZUNCHALE when I discovered Moleskinerie.com, where Ron Arias published this short essay on how he came to writing (2005). Read the rest HERE.

Ron Arias (born November 20, 1941) is a highly regarded Chicano writer whose novel The Road to Tamazunchale has been called “one of the founding texts in Contemporary Chicano/a Literature.” He is also a retired senior writer and correspondent for People magazine.

More about Arias at Wikipedia

Mármol Prize for Latina/o First Fiction

August 31, 2008

Deadline: December 31, 2008

The Mármol Prize for a first work of fiction in English by a Latina/o writer that reflects a respect for intercultural understanding and fosters an appreciation for human rights and civil liberties. Entrants who have previously had poetry or nonfiction works published in book form are eligible. Only submissions of book-length novels or collections of stories are eligible.

The winner of the prize will be published by Curbstone Press and receive a $1,000 advance against royalties.

To enter, send a typed double-spaced manuscript and $15.00 entry fee by December 31, 2008 to Mármol Prize, Curbstone Press, 321 Jackson Street, Willimantic, CT 06226. The winner will be announced in March 2009 and the manuscript published in the spring of 2010. Manuscripts will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE). All entrants will receive a copy of the winning book when it is published.

Previous prize winners

2008: Toni Margarita Plummer – The Desert in Green and Other Stories
2007: Annecy Baez – My Daughter’s Eyes and Other Stories
2006: No Winner
2005: Sylvia Torti – The Scorpion’s Tail
2004: Mary Helen Lagasse – The Fifth Sun
2003: Carla Trujillo – What Night Brings
2002: Lorraine Lopez – Soy La Avon Lady and Other Stories

Rigoberto González: On Being a Chicano Poet

August 31, 2008
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I am Chicano. Such a simple sentence, such a complex statement. The phrase is an act of empowerment, a recognition of cultural lineage, an affirmation of identity. I can make Chicano relevant to this blog and the Poetry Foundation’s invitation to speak to issues of poetry and poetics by declaring that I am a Chicano poet. That I write Chicano poetry. I can already feel people cringe at the language I’m using. But the truth is that I’m not interested in speaking to those who scoff at poetry that dares to call itself political or that dares to engage ethnicity, history, and the personal narrative. A much healthier and more constructive exercise is to address those who don’t know what Chicano poetry is (and who want to learn) and those who are uncertain about committing to a word that is more than a word—it is a declaration of activism.

Read González’s essay in its entirety HERE. IT was published in November 2006 at PoetryFoundation.org

Rigoberto González is the author of six books, most recently the poetry collection, Other Fugitives and Other Strangers (Tupelo Press), and the memoir Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa (U of Wisconsin Press). The recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, he is contributing editor for Poets and Writers, a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and is on the Advisory Circle of Con Tinta, a collective of Chicano/ Latino activist writers. Photo © Marion Ettlinger.

Call for Proposals

August 31, 2008

El Mundo Zurdo: The First International Conference
on the Work and Life of Gloria E. Anzaldúa

Sponsored by The Society for the Study of Gloria E. Anzaldúa (SSGA)

May 14-17, 2009 at the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Society for the Study of Gloria E. Anzaldúa seeks submission of proposals for papers, panels of 3-4 papers, roundtables, workshops, or performances for its First International Conference on the work and life of Gloria E. Anzaldúa on the fifth anniversary of her passing. Special Events: A visit to Gloria’s home town and her final resting place in Hargill, Texas, is scheduled for Friday May 15, 2009. We will need an early head count so that we can arrange transportation and a visit to the University of Texas at Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, Gloria’s alma mater, for lunch and a session with the leadership of the Gloria E. Anzaldúa Legacy Project.

We welcome proposals involving all facets of Anzaldúa’s life and work. The following tracks are merely suggested conceptual groupings for panel and performance presentations:

· BORDERS—explorations of border theory, borderlands ethos and other concepts of Anzaldúan thought focused on this key concept of her work
· QUEER STUDIES—el mundo zurdo and the atravesados, key to Anzaldúa’s thinking and application of her philosophical work
· EDUCATION—pedagogical concerns surrounding her literary and philosophical works. Some questions that may arise: what are some challenges of teaching Anzaldúa? How does Anzaldúa’s thought apply to teaching?
· INTERNATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL ISSUES—What is the status of Anzaldúa studies at the international level?
· SPIRITUALITY—Explorations of Anzaldúa’s spiritual teachings.

I Was Never A Militant Chicano by Reyes Cardenas

August 26, 2008


I Was Never A Militant Chicano (Reyes Cardenas’ 80’s poem), performed by David Garza (on guitar) and his brother Joel at the Hecho En Texas show in Dallas, Tx on May 3, 2008.