Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, is pleased to announce that Laura Villareal, a Letras Latinas associate, has been elected to serve as a co-chair on the leadership committee of the Poetry Coalition. Launched in 2016 and administered by the Academy of American Poets in New York, the Coalition’s nearly thirty member organizations work together to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds. Letras Latinas is a founding member of this national alliance.
With generous support from the Mellon Foundation, the Poetry Coalition holds annual convenings that are hosted by its member organizations. In addition to presenting national programming on themes of social importance, another of the Coalition’s signature projects is its Fellowship Program, which trains the next generation of literary leaders. Poetry Coalition fellows work with host organizations for ten months and receive a monthly stipend. Letras Latinas associates Brent Ameneyro and Cloud Cardona, for example, have each served as
fellows in the recent past.
“As our Poetry Coalition fellow, Brent wrote the successful capacity-building grant proposal that brought Laura on board in 2023. When the grant period ended, she became a Letras Latinas associate thanks to the generosity of our private benefactors. I encouraged Laura to throw her name into the mix as a candidate when a vacancy on the leadership committee opened up. It’s gratifying that she was elected by her peers. We just returned from our convening in New York, and Laura assumed her role as one of three co-chairs and she was terrific. Having her serve is consistent with our aim to empower, and provide opportunities for, the next generation of literary citizens,” said Francisco Aragón, ILS faculty member and the founding, long-time director of Letras Latinas.
“It’s a genuine gift and honor to serve on the Poetry Coalition leadership committee. The work of Coalition members is especially essential in these times when many voices are being silenced as well as in a time when arts funding is becoming increasingly scarce. During my service, my hope is to support the vital work these organizations are doing to amplify our poets and storytellers. This opportunity is unique in that I am able to learn from leaders in literary arts administration, champion the coalition fellows who are our future leaders, and assist in collaborative organizing across multiple organizations to ensure that the poetry landscape continues to be vibrant,” said
Villareal, author of, Girl’s Guide to Leaving, her first book of poetry, published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2022.
Laura Villareal’s debut poetry collection was awarded the Texas Institute of Letters'; John A. Robert Johnson Award for a First Book of Poetry and the Writers'; League of Texas Book Award for Poetry. She earned an MFA at Rutgers University-Newark, where she studied with noted poet, editor and critic, Rigoberto González. She is the recipient of fellowships and scholarships from the Stadler Center for Poetry and Literary Arts at Bucknell University, National Book Critics Circle’s Emerging Critics Program, Bread Loaf Writers'; Conference, the Dobie Paisano Fellowship Program at University of Texas-Austin, The Huntington Library, and CantoMundo. Her writing has further been supported by residencies at Oak Spring Garden Foundation.
Villareal has worked with Letras Latinas for three years, where she co-edits and writes for Letras Latinas Blog 2, in addition to working on other related projects. She is also a contributing editor at West Branch, an online literary journal. She is co-editing a new anthology titled, We Come from Everything: Poetry for the 21st Century, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2027, in partnership with Letras Latinas, and which will feature the work of Latinx poets with one book or less. The anthology is part of the Letras Latinas Emerging Poets Initiative.
Letras Latinas, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2024, strives to enhance the visibility, appreciation and study of Latinx literature both on and off the campus of the University of Notre Dame—with an emphasis on supporting emerging voices, fostering a sense of community among writers, and placing literary artists in community spaces. To learn more, visit: https://latinostudies.nd.edu/news-events/letras-latinas/