F146. Undocupoets Speak!

A105, Oregon Convention Center, Level 1
Friday, March 29, 2019
10:30 am to 11:45 am

 

This panel explores the diversity of undocumented poets and their challenges of moving through the literary world—from the deeply internal work of writing from a self whose presence is contested, to applying to institutions that demand proof of residency in order to participate in the poetic discourse. Poets will read their work, and discuss how their status has informed their craft and the particular aesthetic concerns of writing about, through, and in spite of documentation.


Participants

Moderator:

Esther Lin lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant for 21 years. She is the author of The Ghost Wife, winner of the 2017 PSA Chapbook Fellowship and the Crab Orchard Review’s 2018 Richard Peterson P. She is a 2017–19 Wallace Stegner Fellow and is an organizer for Undocupoets.

Jan-Henry Gray lived undocumented in the US for more than thirty-two years. His work can be found in many journals and is also included in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color. His first book, Documents, winner of the 17th annual Poulin Poetry Prize judged by DA Powell, is available now.

Jesus I. Valles is a queer, Mexican immigrant, educator, storyteller, and performer. Jesus was a semifinalist for the Write Bloody 2016 poetry contest, a recipient of the 2018 Undocupoets Fellowship, and a 2018 Tin House scholar.

Anni Liu is a writer and translator completing her MFA at Indiana University. She is the recipient of a Katherine Bakeless Nason Scholarship to the Bread Loaf Environmental Conference and her work is published or forthcoming in Waxwing, Pleiades, The Journal, and The Margins, among others.

Aline Mello is a writer and editor living in Atlanta. She's an immigrant from Brazil and spends much of her time volunteering with immigrant students. She is an Undocupoet fellow and her work has been published or is upcoming in On She Goes, St. Sucia, Saint Katherine Review, and elsewhere.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center