Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
National Poetry Month : Dia 11 Fragment of Pablo Neruda’s Oda al Libro (1)
8:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Books|Poetry · Comments Off
15 Apr 2010Book, when I close you
I open life…Book, you were never able
to put me onto paper,
to fill me
with typography,
with heavenly printing,
you were never able
to bind my eyes,…Book, set me free.
I don’t want to go dressed
in a volume,
I do not come from a tome,
my poems
haven’t eaten poems,
they devour
passionate happenings,
they are nourished on the outdoors,
they extract food
from the earth and men.
Book, let me walk on the paths
with dust in my shoes and without mythology:
return to your library,
I am going out into the streets.I have learned about life
from life,
love I learned from a single kiss,
and I couldn’t teach anyone anything,
except what I have lived,
whatever I had in common with other men,
whatever I struggled for with them:
whatever I expressed of them all in my song.
Original Spanish follows
Read more…
National Poetry Month : Dia 8 Part I of Julia Alvarez’s Making Our Beds
11:44 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Books|Poetry|Women · Comments Off
11 Apr 2010Do your make your bed everyday? In Casa Mala we do. Can the mudane, the daily, the routine inspire poesia? Pues claro.
Editors Note April 14th : Julia Alvarez’s Literary Agent asked VivirLatino to remove the fragment of the poem Making Our Beds.
So if you want to read the poem, you can purchase the book Homecoming or check it out at your local library.
I’ve partnered with an amazing media maker and radical educator: SuperHussy to help her find, edit, and publish an anthology focusing on women of Color, sex and sexuality! Here’s the Call for Submissions:
Alright ya’ll, it’s time to expand the reach of Super Hussy Media. You know there;s the blog, and the film projects in the works, but wait, here it comes…our first call for submissions for our annual publication, The Compendium.
Our first issue, The Talk, focuses on self-identified women of Color and how they learned about S-E-X. Here are the details:
The Talk: Women of Color On Sex is an exploration of how self-identified women across the Diaspora came to learn about sex and what it meant to have a sexual relationship. Did your mom, aunty or tia sit you down? Were your homegirls or hermanas responsible for giving you the blow by blow? Was Cinemax After Dark, Youtube or a telenovela your sex ed instructor?
Super Hussy Media seeks fresh and daring writers who can coax the reader into an intimate understanding of not only how they learned about sex, but how that knowledge impacted their sexual exploration. We want submissions that are funny, sad, enraging, and transformational.
The Talk is ultimately about our testimonies regarding how we were taught or chose to learn about our sexuality. How we are continuing to learn, lessons we wish we could share with other women of Color, introspective activities of reflection. This is all about us.
Submission Requirements
• Deadline: July 1, 2010
• No more than 2 previously unpublished short stories per submission
• Simultaneous submissions okay, but notify if your work is accepted elsewhere
• 4,000 words or less
• Double spaced
• Poetry and non-English submissions accepted as long as they are accompanied by an English translation
All contributors will receive a copy of the anthology.
Submissions
All submissions must be sent electronically using .doc or .pdf to submissions@superhussy.com.
Title of submission should be placed in the subject line. Please include your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and short bio with your submission.
Superhussy Media publishes work that celebrates girls and women of color everywhere!
We look forward to reading your submissions.
Friend to the VL familia and the brains behind the PANIC! series in which our own Mamita Mala has performed, Charlie Vázquez is releasing his second novel this month. Contraband is available April 15, 2010, below is the synopsis, which I have to say is intriguing and I’m excited to get my hands on this book:
Inspired by Latin-American revolutionary struggles, this riveting work of Latino noir follows the paranoid underworld exile of Volfango Sanzo, a man so haunted by his secrets that he escapes to sprawling networks of underground tunnels and labyrinths in near-future America—where dissidents and “lunars” are seeking refuge from the smoldering ruins of a nation plagued by a deadly civil war and revolution. Volfango is certain that renegade genes in his DNA will be exposed by government-mandated “gene tests,” so he vanishes before his scheduled test date, terrified of being discovered and executed. He also suspects he is being hunted by a government ministry, who wishes to silence him before he speaks. What will he find in those dangerous underground worlds populated by rebels and pariahs? And what secrets does he keep? Will he survive against bleak odds in an underworld where sunlight, food and water are scarce?
Seriously, don’t you want to read the book….like right this second! You can reserve your book now by clicking here.
Below is a video of Charlie reading his bilingual poem “Bronx Dharma” while learning to use his new video camera from his Youtube channel.
National Poetry Month : Dia 2, The Cannibal’s Cancion de Gloria Anzaldua
7:47 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Books|Culture|Poetry|Women · 2 Comments
2 Apr 2010I always turn to the mujeres, the women who have come and gone before me as poetas and activistas. As I was leafing through my worn copy of Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/ la Frontera
the Catholic girl still left inside found this poem appropriate for Good Friday.
The Cannibal’s CancionIt is our custom
to consume
the person we love.
Taboo flesh: swollen
genitalia nipples
the scrotum the vulva
the soles of the feet
the palms of the hand
heart and liver taste best.
Cannibalism is blessed.I’ll wear your jawbone
round my neck
listen to your vertebrae
bone rapping bone in my wrists.
I’ll string your fingers round my waist–
what a rigorous embrace.
Over my heart I’ll wear
a brooch with a lock of your hair.
Nights I’ll sleep cradling
your skull sharpening
my teeth on your toothless grin.Sundays there’s mass and communion
and I’ll put your relics to rest.
Julia Amante’s Evenings at the Argentine Club, published by Grand Central Publishing in 2009, is mostly a cross-generational romance book with some Southern Cone twists. As the title suggests, a network of Argentine families gather at the Argentine Club. The old-timers, the immigrant generation see the gatherings as a way to maintain a connection to la patria and it’s costumbres like mate and meat. They also use it as an opportunity to compete and chismear. Which family is doing better than the others? Who raised the most successful children and what defines success is part of the problem.
What success is for the Torres and the Ortellis depends on what generation you are and your gender identity. For Victoria Torres, the 28 year old single and “overweight” elder child of the Torres familia, success is getting out from under her parents authority, especially her father, his restaurant La Parilla and his machismo. Apparently losing weight and finding a man to propose her also are included. Jaqueline Torres, Victoria’s mother is also struggling to succeed. Suffering from empty nest syndrome, she is lost as her husband continues to expand his business and financial success but not their marriage.
Read more…
Teaching About Haiti
10:08 am By BiancaLaureano · Books|children|Education|Haiti|history|Media · 1 Comment
20 Jan 2010
Have you considered how you are talking with the children and youth around you about Haiti? Are you looking to read books written by Haitian authors*? Then this information is for you! My homegirl Aiesha, media maker and creator behind Super Hussy Media, sent this link to amazing age-appropriate resources (for all ages) for those people who are instructors/educators or parents/mentors who seek to learn how to teach about Haiti. There are also great resources for self-education regarding Haiti.
If you are a professor I encourage you, and echo Prof. Susurro, to consider doing a Teach In regarding Haiti. Here’s an example of one going on in NYC at the Brecht Forum.
*Shameless plug for my NYC Caribbean book club called Date With A Book. If you are seeking authors I encourage you to check out the books we have read and are going to read or contact the creator Marcia directly. Tell her you found out about the book club from me!
Belinda Acosta’s Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz could be labeled a chica lit book for it’s focus on the life of one woman as a mother, wife, and worker. Pero given all the Spanglish (more than I ever use) and the centering of the story as a Latino one, let’s call it chica lit.
The story centers around Ana Ruiz, named in the title, a mujer who is a high level administrator at a university struggling to balance her life raising her two teenage children, Diego and Carmen, after separating from her husband, Esteban. Diego is dealing with the separation better than his sister Carmen, escaping into his music and into his role as “man of the house” in his father’s absence. Carmen, on the other hand, a “daddy’s girl”, isn’t as accepting, and taker out her anger at her mother. Ana, desperate to make peace with her only daughter decides that a quinceñera, or “sweet fifteen” if you will, will help to bring them all closer.
Claro, it wouldn’t have drama in the title if it all worked out. I won’t spoil the book for you, but there is mental illness, love children, miscarriages, and a sexy artist manchild.
Call for submissions for 2010 Gay Latino Fiction Anthology
9:23 am By Maegan La Mala · Books|GLBT · 5 Comments
5 Jan 2010Call for submissions for 2010 Gay Latino Fiction Anthology
Deadline: January 11, 2010
Lethe Press’ new imprint for LGBT writers of color, Tincture, has announced a call for a gay Latino fiction anthology.
The anthology is seeking unpublished fiction (short stories, novel excerpts, short-short stories and flash fiction) by queer Latino writers to take the pulse of contemporary gay Latino literature, stories, experiences and perspectives. It will present a who’s who of queer Latino men writing fiction today. Authors of selected stories will be modestly compensated.
The collection is slated for publication in September 2010 and the submissions are due by January 11, 2010.
A summary and full description of the brief are given below.
Guidelines
• Unpublished short story or novel excerpt of up to 7500 words (No multiple submissions in these categories)
• Unpublished Flash Fiction or short-short stories (up to 3 stories no more than 1000 words per story in these two categories only)
• Non-genre-specific
• Gay centric theme or LGBT characters
• Written primarily in English (Stories translated into English from Spanish are acceptable)
• Thought-provoking and original
Submission procedure
• Submission deadline is 11:59 p.m. EST on January 11, 2010.
• Please submit work to LatinoLethePress@gmail.com.
• Include a brief bio (no more than 200 words) of the author as a cover page. In the top left corner of the cover page, include: submission title, category, author’s name, address, phone, e-mail and (website, if available).
• Submissions should be sent as a Microsoft word or RTF document.
• Format: Single sided, dbl. spaced, 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins.
• Please submit unpublished, publication ready pieces only.
• All submissions will be reviewed by the editor.
Tincture is an imprint of Lethe Press and publishes work by LGBT writers of color.
Call for Submissions : Love Beyond the Wall
3 Jan 2010Via e-mail:
LOVE BEYOND THE WALL
As we gather amongst friends and families for this holiday season, it is imperative that we remember the countless brothers and sisters who can only join us in their memories. All too often many find themselves victims to the concept known as “out of sight and out of mind”. However, such a fate can be averted if only we remember to look beyond those that are in front of us and recognize those who have always stood by our side in the physical sense, the emotional sense, the mental sense, and the spiritual sense.
As 2010 quickly approaches, Despierta Boricua, Inc. and Levantate Latino, Inc. are prepared to enter the next stage of “Love Beyond The Wall”. This stage will allow for both our brothers and sisters who are currently incarcerated, as well as those who have been reunited with the outside community, and their family and friends to share their sentiments with the world via a book entitled “Love Beyond The Wall Volume 1”.
With an expected release of December 2010, all publishing expenses will be covered by both Despierta Boricua, Inc. and Levantate Latino, Inc.
Upon publication, those who contributed to this project by sharing their voice, will be
empowered to present themselves as published writers and may use the book as a foundation for any forums, events, activities, etcetera where their personal experiences can be shared for the purpose of community progression.All proceeds of “Love Beyond The Wall Volume 1” will be used to fund community initiatives that directly benefit the children of our incarcerated brothers and sisters.
Beginning January 1, 2010 and until September 30, 2010, we encourage you all to send your poems, stories, pictures, and overall reflections to either mission@despiertaboricua.com or PO Box 37095, Phoenix, AZ 85069.
We must always remember that our true scope of vision is not limited to what our eyes can “see”….we must also look with our heart and soul.
In the struggle,
Mission
President
Despierta Boricua, Inc.
Levantate Latino, Inc.
mission@despiertaboricua.com
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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