Better Late Than Never

11/08/11: Harvard Reading with Rosa Alcalá, and Aracelis Girmay (Guest appearances by Francisco Aragón, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, and Martha Collins)

Borrowing Your Enemy’s Arrows: Wooden boat, 3000 arrows, electric fan, Chinese flag: Cai Guo-Qiang: 1998

More work here.

Rigoberto González: Interview and Poem

A writer is an activist and a citizen, and has a responsibility beyond the poem, story or novel to participate in the political arena. For some of us that means picketing and organizing protests, others take to the pen or the computer and articulate positions through essays and editorials, and some perform that activism through the classroom as teachers. Activism is defined by the individual. I understand not everyone is willing to accept the challenge, but I sure as hell know that everyone can. In any case, this is an old argument and usually the only ones who speak up are the ones who want to negate that premise for selfish reasons. At the very least, people who do not want to participate in these conversations should please cease from making such comments as “I don’t want to be known as a Chicano writer” or “I don’t want to be known as a gay writer.” We need role models, not cowards.
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I think fossil, I think watermark...

Attention Chicano/Latino Writers

PALABRA invites Chicano/Latino writers to submit short stories, flash fiction,
poetry, standalone novel excerpts and short plays that explore new avenues of Chicano & Latino writing. Innovative/cross-genre/hybrid work is welcome. Especially interested in work that is fresh, engaged and takes literary risks.

Full guidelines HERE.

Freaking great news!

News like this makes me so happy. Heck, it makes me want to cry with joy.


The National Book Critics Circle finalists were announced yesterday.

Aracelis Girmay is a finalist in poetry.

Luis J. Rodriguez is a finalist in autobiography.


!!!!!!
!!!!!!
!!!!!!


Complete list of finalists here.

boxcar

The new installment of boxcar poetry review is up and running.

It features three e-talks:

Millicent Borges Acardi & ire'ne lara silva

Marie-Elizabeth Mali & Melissa Stein

Kevin Simmonds & Craig Moreau

Luis J. Rodriguez

I can categorically state that Chicano Studies, like any ethnic studies curriculum in the country, is not exclusionist or anti-white. I know because for at least thirty years I've visited hundreds of classrooms in public and private schools as one of the leading Chicano writers and activists in the United States. I know because some forty years ago, I was one of the Chicano students who helped fight for Chicano Studies, for more Chicano teachers, and for other vital segments of the population--be they women, African American, Native American, Asian, Disabled, Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender, the poor and working class--to be understood and accepted in our schools.

bit

thanks for all the feedback on the photographs! :)

do i look like a poet?

dear readers, i need help picking an author photo for my website, which should launch in early february. i've narrowed it down to three photographs. which one do you like best?


#1

#2

#3

Photographs taken by JW Stovall

Interview: Carmen Giménez Smith

I really resisted the fragment, but now I’m going with it because I can remember that the fragment was a great drafting strategy. I’m writing shorter passages or sections that may or may not become longer because this can be generative. And I’m trying not to worry about structure or redundancy at earlier stages, which helps me just generate, something I really struggle with.

bits

late next month i'm going to spend five nights in paris. did i really just type that sentence? i did!
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i'm staying in the heart of paris. close to the palais garnier and the louvre.
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i can't wait for shara lessley's first book. it comes out this march.
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i'm sure i'm going to get lost walking around in paris or while using the métro. but who cares! i will be lost in paris.
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Wander to the studios at 1:30 PM for an intentionally late lunch, because I can't handle the hum & scrum of the conversation.
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i want to thank my little poems for sending me to paris. oh my little poems!
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i'm a big fan of david welch's poems; spork press just published four new ones. i wish i'd written these lines: I told him I remember my father/asked me once to strangle/a still alive and wounded quail.
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what am i going to do in paris? walk around. eat. walk around. eat. eat. eat. basically, the same things i do in nyc. ha.