Valerie Martínez reading on November 12, 2024 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. for an event titled "We the People of the United States…Ensure Domestic Tranquility."
It would require many, many pages and many, many, many words to properly credit Letras Latinas for all it’s done to support me, over the past 17 years. I am deeply grateful for the ways in which Letras Latinas has recognized my work, connected me with other Latinx writers, and promoted the publication of my work nationwide. Chiefly, this has been through the generous efforts of Francisco Aragon. But I also want to thank the support staff at Letras, and all my fellow poets and writers, over the years, for everything they’ve done to support these efforts.
Here are some of the events and initiatives that I have been lucky to be part of. They attest to the range and creativity and quality of Letras Latinas’ work overall.
In 2007, I was honored to serve as the judge for the second edition of Letras Latinas’ Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. I chose The Outer Bands by Gabriel Gomez. What a wonderful book! After the prize announcement, Gabe and I read at Notre Dame in October of that year. Also, during that visit, Dept. of English Professor Orlando Menés interviewed me for the Institute for Latino Studies Oral History project.
In September of 2010, I read from my book-length poem Each and Her at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, an event sponsored by Letras Latinas in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and The Guild Complex. And in February of 2011, I read with Naomi Ayala and J. Michael Martinez at the Folger Shakespeare Library in D.C. Part of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, the reading was sponsored by Letras Latina and The Poetry Society of America. Francisco Aragon introduced us and moderated a conversation after we read.
Each and Her is taught in many English Department courses around the country, due in part to the exposure provided by Letras Latinas in 2010 and 2011.
In Washington, D.C. in February of 2014, Letras Latinas and the Smithsonian presented “Pintura: Palabra--"An Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop for Advanced Latino/a Poets." This two day workshop, led by the wonderful poet, Brenda Cardenas, and me, guided Latinx poets from across the U.S. through a process of reading and discussing ekphrastic poems, exploring the Smithsonian’s "Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art" Exhibition, and writing poems in response to selected works. The poems eventually appeared in various journals and magazines, including a portfolio of ekphrastic works in a special issue of Poetry magazine in March 2016.
Letras Latinas also supported an initiative I led while Director of History and Literary Arts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (2018-2021), the National Latinx Writers Gathering (NLWG) which has convened Latinx writers from around the country since 2020. Francisco Aragon and I had talked over many years about working toward an annual gathering of Latinx writers that might aspire to the influence of collectives like Cave Canem and Kundiman.
Finally, I was lucky enough to read with Dan Vera and Blas Falconer on November 12, 2024, for the eleventh installment of events celebrating Letras Latinas’ 20th anniversary. During that reading, we had the pleasure of choosing a poem to read from the recently published
Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology (Poetry Society of America) edited by Rigoberto González. Poetry by Blas, Dan, and me is included in the anthology, along with hundreds of years of Latinx poets on whose shoulders we stand.
Looking at this list, I am struck by the breadth and richness of support for Latinx poets demonstrated by Letras Latinas over so many years. This has resulted in far more visibility for Latinx poetry at the national level. What an achievement! Thank you, Letras!
— Valerie Martínez
Photo shared by Valerie Martínez | Post-reading conversation moderated by Sami Miranda.
From left to right: Sami Miranda, Dan Vera, Blas Falconer, and Valerie Martínez
Video credit: Adrian Gaston Garcia | Valerie Martínez discusses early writing influences during the panel discussion. Poets like Lorna Dee Cervantes, Joy Harjo, and Sylvia Plath.