Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies (ILS), is pleased to announce, “The Chorus These Poets Create: Twenty Years of Letras Latinas”—a folio featuring the work of twenty-six poets in the December issue of Poetry magazine. Guest-edited by Letras Latinas director Francisco Aragón and associate Laura Villareal, the folio is the capstone to Letras Latinas’ 20th anniversary yearlong celebration.
“It’s a meaningful way to punctuate this milestone year—a One Poem Festival in print at the same time that we hold a One Poem Festival in person—together, they make up our grand finale” said Aragón, referring to the December 7 event slated to take place at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA. The folio consists, in large part, of pieces by the poets who took part in 20th anniversary events. These include, among others, the four poets who presented and discussed their work in Chicago last March at the Poetry Foundation, past winners of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, and a Cuban-born poet who took part in “POETAS Y PINTORES: Artists Conversing with Verse,” an early Letras Latinas program that engaged the visual arts.
“We’re fortunate to honor the twentieth anniversary of Letras Latinas in Poetry magazine. The folio, curated by poets Francisco Aragón and Laura Villareal, is a compendium of some of the most vital Latinx poets working now, including Rigoberto González, Ada Limón, and Carmen Giménez. The creative and communal work catalyzed by founding director Aragón offers a template for how poets can hold their own histories, hold each other, and dream a different creative future together,” said Adrian Matejka, Poetry magazine’s editor.
Award-winning poet, editor and critic, Rigoberto González, whose most recent project is Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, and who was able to preview the folio, asserted: “These poems remind us that during these troubled political times when others insist on speaking at us, over us, and for us, it’s essential that Latinx poets use their words to express ourselves and imagine our communities as they deserve to be seen and understood.”
In the introduction, Letras Latinas associate and co-editor Laura Villareal offers this guidance to readers: “A main chord to listen for while reading is how the poems reckon with or respond to a question posed by Jordan Pérez: ‘Can you show me a body that is itself / whole?’ Bodies of all sorts are represented in these poems: lustful bodies, colonized bodies and displaced bodies, the bodies of loved ones and our own—all of which require care. We witness art as visceral and embodied. We hold vigil for those housing the ghost of memory…The poets also remind us that we need each other.”
Presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco, whose piece concludes the folio and who also had an advance look, offered: “When I got to my piece, I couldn’t help but feel both honored and moved to be part of such a rich and varied chorus of voices. The poems underscore why our poets can rightfully claim their central place in American letters, especially now.”
Latinx poetry specialist, Michael Dowdy, who teaches at Villanova University and is the author of the critical volume, Broken Souths and co-editor of the critical anthology, Poetics of Social Engagement, describes the work as “breath-giving poems gathered from the astonishingly deep bench of writers who have helped to build this stalwart of Latinx letters into a national powerhouse.” To read his review of the folio visit here.
The full roster of poets, in their order of appearance, are: Rigoberto González, Jordan Pérez, Diannely Antigua, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Yesenia Montilla, Jasminne Mendez, Dan Vera, Ada Limón, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Aleida Rodríguez, heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, Valerie Martínez, Emma Trelles, Natalia Treviño, Alexandra Lytton Regalado, Sheila Maldonado, Grisel Y. Acosta, Edgar Garcia, Luivette Resto, Adela Najarro, Carmen Giménez, Michelle Otero, Carmen Calatayud, Gina Franco, Blas Falconer, and Richard Blanco. The December 2024 issue of Poetry can be accessed here.
Founded in Chicago, Poetry magazine is one of the preeminent monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. In addition to its print publication, Poetry’s entire digital archive of over 1,200 issues is available for free.