THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2009, 7:30
Poetry Flash at Moe’s Books
The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry ON TOUR
edited by Francisco Aragón, presenting the editor & contributors:
John Olivares Espinoza
Venessa Fuentes
Adela Najarro
Paul MartÃnez Pompa
The title of the ravishing collection of poems by 25 Latino and Latina writers can be read as an allusion to change and to the fact that poetry is a force, like wind, that knows know borders. Whether inspired by family, love, despair, poems by Rilke, or a painting by Jose Clemente Orozco, the poets gathered here are involved in the infinite possibilities of language.
—Booklist
This is a compelling and exhilarating addition to Latino letters.
—El Paso Times
MOE’S BOOKS, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 849-2087
Parking at the Durant/Channing Garage, close to Telegraph. Channing is one block north. For more information, Poetry Flash: (510) 525-5476.
Contributors:
John Olivares Espinoza is the author of, The Date Fruit Elegies (Bilingual Press), his first full-length book. His chapbooks include Aluminum Times (Swan Scythe Press) and Gardeners of Eden (Chicano Chapbook Series). Born in 1978, Espinoza grew up in Indio, CA and studied creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and at Arizona State University, where he received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. His work has appeared in various journals and anthologies including, most recently, The Bear Flag Republic : Prose Poems from California. He has been a participant in The National Book Foundation Summer Writing Camp in Bennington, VT, The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, and the Macondo Writers Workshop in San Antonio. Espinoza teaches writing, literature, and ethnic studies at The National Hispanic University in San Jose, California.
Venessa Fuentes writes poems. She graduated from Macalester College in 1997, earning her degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. A week after graduation she started working for the Loft Literary Center, where she continues to work today. She is the recipient of a SASE/Jerome Award; has led creative writing workshops for children and families; and has served as a teaching artist in the Saint Paul public school system. In addition to The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press), her poems appear in Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el Corazón y la Tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest (March/Abrazo Press) and in Swerve magazine. Venessa lives in Minneapolis with her son, Felix.
Adela Najarro holds a doctorate in literature and creative writing from Western Michigan University, as well as an M.F.A. from Vermont College. She currently teaches at Cabrillo College as part of the Puente Project. In addition to in the University of Arizona Press anthology The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry, her poetry appears in numerous journals, including Feminist Studies, Puerto del Sol, Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose, Notre Dame Review, Blue Mesa Review, Crab Orchard Review, ACM: Another Chicago Magazine, Artful Dodge, Cimarron Review, and elsewhere.
Paul MartÃnez Pompa grew up in the Chicagoland area and earned degrees from the University of Chicago and Indiana University, where he served as a poetry editor for Indiana Review. His chapbook, Pepper Spray, was published by Momotombo Press in 2006. His first book, While Late Capitalism, was selected by MartÃn Espada as winner of the 2008 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize and will be published by University of Notre Dame Press in 2009. He currently lives in Chicago and teaches composition and creative writing at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois.
Editor:
Francisco Aragón is the author of, Puerta del Sol (Bilingual Press) and editor of, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press). His poems and translations (from the Spanish) have appeared in various anthologies and journals. The founding editor of Momotombo Press, he directs Letras Latinas—the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.