F266. Writing in Spanish in the Land of the Free

Room 214B, Henry B. González Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
Friday, March 6, 2020
3:20 pm to 4:35 pm

 

The U.S.A. houses a community of 41 million Spanish speakers, the world’s second largest, yet its Spanish literary production is abysmal. Why aren’t more Latinx authors writing in Spanish? How can we support them in order to improve? We’ll examine the cases of Seattle Escribe, Kansas’s LWC, and Latino Book Review, nonprofits that have spurred publications, literary events, workshops, and media projects, all in Spanish. We’ll discuss how their models could be improved and even replicated. ¡Sí se puede!


Outline & Supplemental Documents

Event Outline: Writing_in_Spanish_in_the_Land_of_the_Free.pdf
Supplemental Document 1: AWP_Panel_Presentation_2020.pdf

Participants

Moderator:

José L. Montero is a bilingual writer and president of Seattle Escribe, the largest organization of Spanish writers in the Pacific NW. He has a master's in narrative from EdE in Spain, a certificate in literary fiction from the University of Washington, and currently interns for Copper Canyon Press.

Maria de Lourdes Victoria is a bilingual, award-winning author who has published internationally. Her first novel was finalist for the Mariposa Book Award. Her second book took third place at the Planeta Book Award (2012). Her last novel was finalist as best novel in Spanish at Latino Book Awards.

Claudia Castro Luna is WA State Poet Laureate and winner of the Academy of American Poets' first Poets Laureate Fellowship. She served as Seattle's first Civic Poet (2015–2017) Publications include This City, Killing Marias, and Seattle Poetic Grid, a digital project. She also writes nonfiction.

Gerald Padilla is the founder and director of Latino Book Review, founder of Jade Publishing, and founder of the Festival Internacional de Poesía Latinoamericana (FEIPOL). He is the coauthor of the first children's book in Náhuatl in the US, Noyolkanyolkej.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center