Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, is pleased
to announce a partnership with SWWIM and The Betsy Hotel. Together, the trio will co-present an evening of poetry and conversation featuring award-winning writers Alexandra Lytton Regalado and Jordan Pérez. The Betsy Hotel will host the event at 7:00 PM on September 12th, 2024 as part of Letras Latinas’ national series to celebrate its 20th anniversary (2004 – 2024).
The reading will feature the current winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, which supports the publication of a debut book by a Latinx poet in the United States. Jordan Pérez will be joined by one of the two judges who selected her winning manuscript. Alexandra Lytton Regalado’s most recent book, Relinquenda, was a National Poetry Series winner and released by Beacon Press in 2022. Pérez’s winning volume, Santa Tarantula, was released in February of this year with University of Notre Dame Press.
“Our bread and butter are partnerships so we’re delighted to collaborate with SWWIM and The Betsy Hotel,” said Francisco Aragón, Letras Latinas director. “And we’re especially pleased that Letras Latinas associate and poet, Laura Villareal, will be making the trip to Miami to introduce and moderate our featured poets,” added Aragón.
The event is made possible thanks to an equity in verse grant from the Poetry Foundation, as well as private contributions from Letras Latinas donors, which will allow the poets to each receive an honorarium, in addition to having their travel expenses covered.
"We're thrilled to open our ninth season with this very special reading celebrating Letras Latinas' 20th anniversary," SWWIM co-founder Jen Karetnick enthused. "When we first began to even think about SWWIM, we looked to organizations like Letras Latinas as models, so it's extra-special for us to be in a position to host, along with our superpower The Betsy Hotel, a reading for Jordan and Alexandra."
"Miami is such a Latinx city," SWWIM co-founder Catherine Esposito Prescott added. "Not only is this the ideal audience for a Letras Latinas celebration, but Jordan will have so much inspiration and good writing vibes for her residency at the hotel." A four-day, three-night residency is an integral part of SWWIM and The Betsy Hotel's reading-and-residency program in support of women-identifying poets.
“The Betsy Hotel is proud to be the founding and current home of Supporting Women Writers in Miami (SWWIM) and to be collaboratively welcoming Letras Latinas back to the property for this pacesetting 20th Anniversary reading. We’re looking forward to many more years of creative partnership to foster broader awareness of and appreciation for contemporary poetry, something the world needs, now, more than ever,” noted Jonathan Plutzik, co-owner of The Betsy Hotel.
The Letras Latinas national series began last January in Washington, D.C and has included, thus far, stops in Tucson, AZ, Chicago, IL, South Bend, IN, and San Antonio, TX. In all, the 20th anniversary series will consist of nine events. Poets who have taken part, thus far, include: Eduardo C. Corral, Carmen Calatayud, Gina Franco, Edgar Garcia, Sheila Maldonado, Diannely Antigua, Jasminne Mendez, Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta, Ada Limón, Carmen Giménez, and heidi andrea restrepo rhodes and Michelle Otero. [Note: injury prevented Otero’s participation, but each Macondo workshop participant received in their tote bag Otero’s book, Vessels: A Memoir of Borders.]
After the event at The Betsy Hotel, the series will return to the Notre Dame campus for an October 16th event featuring Richard Blanco and Rigoberto González, in collaboration with the Library of America to celebrate the publication of Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology. A second anniversary event is slated for Washington, D.C. on November 12th and will showcase Valerie Martínez, Blas Falconer, and Dan Vera at the Folger Shakespeare Library as part of the O.B. Hardison Series. The grand finale is set for Venice, CA on December 7th and will highlight twenty poets from the Los Angeles area for a One Poem Festival, including Luis J. Rodríguez, Aleida Rodríguez, Luivette Resto, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, and many others. This final event will be co-presented with Beyond Baroque, which is the hosting venue, and the grassroots organization, Alternative Field. Among the final event’s publicity partners are Tia Chucha Press and Red Hen Press.
Many of the poets taking part in this national series will form part a 20th anniversary folio in the December issue of Poetry magazine, guest-edited by Francisco Aragón and Laura Villareal.