We are thrilled to kick off Latinx Heritage Month with a special event dedicated to the Library of America’s release of the Latino Poetry Anthology. Inspired by the new book Latino Poetry: The Library Of America Anthology (Loa #382), this evening will shine a spotlight on exceptional Latino poets from the Midwest, offering a vibrant exploration of their contributions to literature and culture. The event will feature live readings, musical performances, and video montages from the vast anthology. The host for the evening will be writer, editor and professor Rigoberto González.

González is the author of five poetry collections, including The Book of Ruin (Four Way Books, 2019); Unpeopled Eden (Four Way Books, 2013), winner of the Lambda Literary Award and the 2014 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets, given for the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States each year; Other Fugitives and Other Strangers (Tupelo Press, 2006); and So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks (University of Illinois Press, 1999), which was chosen by the poet Ai for the National Poetry Series.

Opening and closing the program will be a live performance from Son Monarcas. Son Monarcas is a Latin Folk Fusion ensemble led by Mercedes Inez and Irekani Ferreyra. Like that of the Monarch Butterfly, they take you on a musical migration from the USA to Latin America by fusing indie soul with traditional son & cumbia.

The following writers will read their poems and discuss inspiration live on stage:

Ana Castillo Ph.D. is a celebrated and distinguished poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Castillo was born and raised in Chicago. She has penned more than two dozen titles to date in a range of genres. She is credited as a pioneer of Chicana/x, feminist works with a career that spans nearly half a century. MY BOOK OF THE DEAD: New Poems (2012-2020) was released with the University of New Mexico Press, September, 2021. Doña Cleanwell Leaves Home (short stories, HarperVia Publisher was released in 2023 and a novel ISABEL 2121 is scheduled for release in 2025.

Luis Alberto Urrea is a prolific and award-winning writer, a master storyteller who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph. In all of his work, Luis encourages empathy and compassion for our shared humanity. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and an American mother, Luis grew up in San Diego. Like so many great writers, Luis got his start in literature writing poems to impress girls in junior high. His early heroes were all rock stars, but not being especially musically gifted Luis chose to follow in the steps of his literary role models. “What I really wanted to be was Jim Morrison,” he has said “however, if I weren’t a writer, I’d be dead.” The author of 17 books, he has published extensively in various genres and has received many prestigious awards.

Brenda Cárdenas has authored Trace (Red Hen Press), winner of the 2023 Society of Midland Authors Award for Poetry and Silver winner of Foreword Review’s Indie Poetry Prize; Boomerang (Bilingual Press); and three chapbooks. She also co-edited Resist Much/Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance and Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in many literary journals and anthologies, including Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Braving the Body, Latinx Poetics: The Art of Poetry, TAB: Journal of Poetry and Poetics, and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Anthology, among others. Cárdenas has served as Milwaukee’s Poet Laureate and is Professor Emerita of English at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Daniel Borzutzky is a poet and Spanish-language translator from Chicago. His most recent books are The Murmuring Grief of the Americas (2024), and Written After a Massacre in the Year 2018 (2021). His 2016 collection, The Performance of Becoming Human, received the National Book Award. Lake Michigan (2018) was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. His most recent translations are Cecilia Vicuña’s The Deer Book (2024); and Paula Ilabaca Nuñez’s The Loose Pearl (2022), winner of the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. His translation of Galo Ghigliotto’s Valdivia received the American Literary Translator’s Association’s 2017 National Translation Award, and he has also translated collections by Raúl Zurita, and Jaime Luis Huenún. He teaches English and Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Diego Báez is a writer, educator, and abolitionist. He is the author ofYaguareté White (Univ. of Arizona, 2024) and curates The Blue Jay Summer Poetry Series in Rogers Park. He is the recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, the Surge Institute, and the Poetry Foundation’s Incubator for Community-Engaged Poets. His writing has appeared in Freeman’s, The Rumpus, Harriet Books, and The Georgia Review. He lives in Chicago and teaches at Harry S Truman College.

Roberto Harrison is a Panamanian American poet and artist living in Milwaukee since 1991. His latest book, Isthmus to Abya Yala, was published in the Spring of 2024 by City Lights. He was the Milwaukee Poet Laureate for 2017-2019 and received a Wisconsin Notable Author award from the Wisconsin Library Association in 2022.

Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black author from Chicago. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Callaloo, and the Watering Hole. Julian is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and the winner of the 2019 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Publishing Triangle. His writing has been published in New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, and POETRY, and anthologized in Black Boy Joy (which debuted at #1 on the NYT Best Seller list), Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, and Furious Flower. Julian has essays in The Atlantic, Vibe Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books and other venues. They hold an MFA in poetry from University of Mississippi. Julian is the author of five books across three genres. For adults Refuse (Pitt, 2018), winner of the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for a 2019 NAACP Image Award and the forthcoming The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi and Black TV Nerd Shit (Bold Type Books, May 2024). For younger readers: the Pilar Ramirez duology and the forthcoming middle grade novel The Chainbreakers (all from Holt Books for Young Readers

Francisco Aragón is the son of Nicaraguan immigrants. A native of San Francisco, California, he holds degrees in Spanish from UC Berkeley and NYU. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1998 after a decade in Spain, Aragón completed graduate degrees in creative writing from UC Davis and the University of Notre Dame. In 2003 he joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies where he established Letras Latinas. His first book, Puerta del Sol, was published in 2005, followed by the anthology, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (2007) and books Glow of Our Sweat (2010) and After Rubén (2020). His poems have appeared in over twenty anthologies. He has also translated several Spanish-language poets, including Francisco X. Alarcón, Federico García Lorca and Rubén Darío.

This program is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

How to Attend – In Person:

Doors to the Auditorium open at 5:30 p.m., and seating is first come, first served (350 capacity). Books are available for purchase.

How to Attend – Virtual:
This event will also take place live on CPL’s YouTube channel and CPL’s Facebook page. You’ll be able to ask questions during the event as well! Can’t make it to the live stream? We’ll archive the video on YouTube to watch later.

Accessibility

Need sign language interpretation or other accessibility assistance for this event? Please call (312) 747-8184 or email access@chipublib.org to request accommodations. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event.

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Tags: Ana Castillo, Brenda Cárdenas, Chicago, Chicago Public Library, Daniel Borzutzky, Diego Báez, Francisco Aragón, Harold Washington Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Irekani Ferreyra, Julian Randall, Latino Poetry Anthology Celebration, Library of America Presents: Latino Poetry Anthology Celebration, Loop, Luis Alberto Urrea, Mercedes Inez, Rigoberto González, Roberto Harrison, Son Monarcas