Join us this spring as we celebrate the rich tradition of Latino poetry with Songs of Resistance: U.S. Latino Poetry Responds to Our Present Crisis. This series is part of Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, a national public humanities initiative directed by Library of America with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective, comprising a groundbreaking anthology, events around the country, and an online media archive. The Jones Library is honored to partner with Restless Books for these exciting events.
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For nearly five centuries, the rich tapestry of Latino poetry has been woven from a wealth of languages and cultures. With distinctive rhythms, lyricism, and candor, and nuanced understandings of place, history, and origin, Latino poets have brought dazzling insight to what it means to make a home in America.
Recognition of the beauty and power of this tradition has grown in recent years, with Latino poets receiving two national and twelve state Poet Laureateships, two Pulitzer Prizes, and three National Book Awards. At the same time, the perennial questions confronted by Latino poets - of exile and belonging, language and identity, struggle and solidarity, and labor and landscape - have become ever more urgent.
What does Latino poetry reveal about America? How might it help us imagine a more just, joyful, and capacious future? Places We Call Home seeks to foster nationwide conversation on this vital literature through a groundbreaking new anthology edited by Rigoberto González, events around the country, an online media archive, and a wealth of library resources meant to spur in-depth reflection and discussion on key figures and themes.
Funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective, Places We Call Home is directed by Library of America and presented in partnership with the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures; the Academy of American Poets; Cave Canem; Poetry Society of America; and the National Book Foundation, among others.
Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m. - Jones Library Woodbury Room
Voyage to the Underworld: Selected Latino Poetry from 1523 to the Present – Join us for an exploration of Latino poetry! This discussion and reading of selected poems from Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology edited by Rigoberto González, will be led by Dr. Ilan Stavans. The reading and discussion will also include poems from his book Lamentations of Nezahualcóyotl, retold from the Nahuatl by Ilan Stavans, just published by program partner Restless Books.
Dr. Ilan Stavans is the publisher of Restless Books and the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College.
