In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Ohio Wesleyan University will welcome poets with roots in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Chile, Peru, Nicaragua, and Mexico to take part in a two-day Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Poetry Festival.
The festival will be held October 16-17 and will include the following free community events:
- 6-8 PM October 16 – All guest poets will participate in a Poetry Festival Reading, in Room 301 of Merrick Hall, 65 S. Sandusky St., Delaware.
- Noon-1 PM October 16 – Dreamer poet Rossy Evelin Lima (Mexico) will deliver “Undocumented Dream,” a TEDxTalk about her experience as an immigrant writer in the United States, in Room 301 of Merrick Hall. Once a dreamer student, Lima holds a Ph.D. in linguistics and is an international award-winning poet. She has been awarded the Gabriela Mistral Award by the National Hispanic Honor Society, the Premio Internazionale di Poesia Altino in Italy, and the International Latino Book Award, among others. She is president and founder of the Latin American Foundation for the Arts, founder of the International Latin American Poetry Festival (FeIPoL), and founder of Jade Publishing.
- 6-7:30 PM October 17 – All guest poets will participate in a Poetry Festival Reading, in Benes Room C of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
- Manuel Iris (Mexico), poet and educator recently named Poet Laureate of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio. Iris received the National award of poetry Merida in 2009 for his book Notebook of Dreams, and the Regional award of poetry Rodulfo Figueroa for his book The Disguises of Fire in 2014. He holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages from the University of Cincinnati.
- Amado Lascar (Chile), poet and member of the Collective of Young Writers between 1983-86, marked by the military dictatorship of September 11, 1973. The deep cultural effect of the 17 years of implementation of neoliberalism in Chile is incorporated in his writings. Lascar currently lives in Athens, Ohio, where he has been a professor of Latin American literature since 2002.
- Linda Morales Caballero (Peru), poet and a graduate from Hunter College with an M. A. in Hispanic-American Literature. She has published Desde el umbral, Circunferencia de la palabra, Miradas de Nueva York, Poemas vivos: el Hombre adivinado, Poemas tuyos, Collage, Encantamiento, and El libro de los enigmas a short-fiction book.
- Yrene Santos (Dominican Republic), poet and co-organizer of The Americas Poetry Festival of New York. She teaches at City University of New York and St. John’s University. Her books include Septiembre casi termina, Me sorprendió geométrica, Por el asombro, Por si alguien llega, El incansable juego and Después de la lluvia.
- Carlos Satizábal (Colombia), poet, associate professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and director of its Master of Arts in Creative Writing. He also is an actor and theater director. His poetry collection, La llama inclinada / The Inclined Flame (recently translated by Jennifer Rathbun and published in New York by Artepoetica Press, 2018), won the National Prize for Unpublished Poetry in 2012.
- Nicasio Urbina (Nicaragua), poet, received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University. He has published eight books of literary criticism, short stories, and poetry, and has edited eight books on different topics. Some of his book titles are Sintaxis de un signo, Viajemas, Poesía reunida 1984-2014.
Professors Abeer Abdel-Hafez (Egypt) of Ohio Wesleyan and Jennifer Rathbun of Ashland University, internationally renowned and extensively published poetry specialists and translators, will provide readings of some of the translations at the community events.
Ohio Wesleyan’s Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Poetry Festival was created through the work of the National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Planning Committee, including students from Viva LatinX, Ohio Wesleyan’s Latin American student association, and Juan Armando Rojas Joo, professor of Modern Foreign Languages and associate chief diversity officer.
“In Latin America, poetry festivals are organized to build a sense of community, where creative freedom, equity and multiculturalism can be celebrated,” said Rojas (Mexico), who has published six books of poetry. “We hope that many members of the Ohio Wesleyan and Delaware community can take advantage of these cultural activities and enjoy this unique experience.”
Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Modern Foreign Languages at www.owu.edu/MFL.
