Podcast appearances and mentions of willie perdomo

East Harlem-born Puerto Rican poet Willie Perdomo, the former State Poet of New York, is curating poets.org's National Poetry Month series, consisting of one newly published poem per day from a contemporary poet. Perdomo will discuss the series, and the purpose of National Poetry Month. Plus, listeners share their favorite works of poetry, particularly works they lean on through uncertain times.

Recorded by Mary Sutton and Willie Perdomo for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on March 31, 2025. www.poets.org

Today's poem is That's My Heart Right There by Willie Perdomo. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “I did not appreciate the depth of emotions behind the songs my grandfather sang, until one morning when I arrived early to high school for track practice to see my crush holding hands with my best friend. Whew! I could have sung a hundred blues songs, and would have felt none the better. But I came to understand something about love; we are creatures with wild hearts.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is How to Be a Good Savage by Mikeas Sánchez, translated by Wendy Call and Shook.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "Today's poem ironizes the lens through which the colonizer sees Indigenous peoples as uncivilized. It is a horrible term that diminishes a people's humanity and ascribes assimilation as the cure of a presumed inferiority. It is an example of a poem that my friend Willie Perdomo describes as a poetry of “decolonial practice.”"Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Join us for a book launch, poetry reading, and visual showcase of Por Siempre. This event took place on May 17, 2023. Por Siempre is a visual and verbal narrative of the grit and gentleness in Southwestern Latinx communities told through photography by Antonio Salazar and poetry by José Olivarez. Guns, tattoos, pit bulls, and cars appear alongside a tender aubade, a couple holding hands, a baby bathing in a kitchen sink; landscapes and skylines in Phoenix and Los Angeles show palm trees and messy garages; long white socks and acrylic nails of younger generations meet the smiles and traditions of elders. In a society that would rather disappear or ignore its own grittier dimensions, Salazar's work is both a refusal to be silenced and a love letter to the communities that sing, dance, live, and love, in their own beautiful and dangerous ways. Alongside Salazar's powerful visual narrative, a series of poetry by José Olivarez appears throughout the book. Each poem “speaks” in its own way—to, of, with, and beyond the subjects of Salazar's photos—with humor, honesty, and compassion. These artists together in Por Siempre are a force: expanding and lifting each other's best parts, as those in sincere and caring communities often do. Order a Copy of Por Siempre: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/... ———————————————————————————————————————————————— Speakers: Isela Meraz (Chela) is a self-taught community artist, she was born in Durango Mexico “Tierra de Los Alacranes” and has lived in Phoenix, AZ since 1991. The love for her community and social justice has led her to participate in civil disobedience, hunger strikes and spiritual fast. Creating art that honors her family, queerness and land. Her work is now part of the permanent collection of the ASU Art Museum and it is currently on display till July of 2023. José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by the Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he coedited the poetry anthology The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. He cohosts the poetry podcast The Poetry Gods. Antonio Salazar is a photographer based in Phoenix, Arizona. His work features a glimpse into the culture of the fifth largest city in the U.S. Themes surrounding Chicane/x identity in the Southwest are heavily explored through his art. Watch the live event recording: https://youtube.com/live/dfXwiCOL5zg Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

In this episode of Get Lit Minute, we spotlight the accomplished author, poet and educator, José Olivarez.José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. SourceSupport the showSupport the show

In the early 1990s, Willie Perdomo was a teenager growing up in East Harlem. He saw and experienced firsthand a tumultuous moment in New York City, including the crack epidemic and the consequences of the war on drugs. In his latest book of poetry, "The Crazy Bunch," Perdomo wrangles with that history and the ghosts of that time. Latino USA's Antonia Cereijido takes a walk with Perdomo through his old neighborhood of Harlem to discuss his teenage years and how memories of that time inspired his newest work. This story originally aired in July 2019.

In a church there are liturgies and prayers and statues. But in José Olivarez's poem, there are more urgent things taking place, things that have “no time to wait.”José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants.  He is the author of Promises of Gold, a collection of poems. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhereFind the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.We're pleased to offer José Olivarez's poem, and invite you to connect with Poetry Unbound throughout this season.

Episode 121 Notes and Links to Michael Torres' Work          On Episode 121 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Michael Torres, and the two discuss, among other topics, his growing up in Pomona, CA, and his childhood and adolescence influences on his work, the speaker as poet and vice versa, his early reading prompted by a generous older sister, works and writers that have thrilled him and impelled him to write, his poetry collection's themes of identity and masculinity, and the real-life background of his dynamite lines and strong images.       Michael Torres is a VONA distinguished alum and CantoMundo fellow. In 2016 he received his MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, was a winner of the Loft Mentor Series, received an Individual Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and was awarded a Jerome Foundation Research and Travel Grant to visit the pueblo in Jalisco, Mexico where his father grew up. In 2019 he received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and The Loft Literary Center for the Mirrors & Windows Program. A former Artist-in-Residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France as well as a McKnight Writing Fellow, he is currently a 2021-22 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow.     His first collection of poems, AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF NAMES, (Beacon Press, 2020) was selected by Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series, named one of NPR's Best Books of 2020, and was featured on the podcast Code Switch.     His writing has been featured or is forthcoming in Best New Poets 2020, The New Yorker, POETRY, Ploughshares, Smartish Pace, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Georgia Review, The Sun, Water~Stone Review, Southern Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, Poetry Northwest, Copper Nickel, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, The McNeese Review, MIRAMAR, Green Mountains Review, Forklift, Ohio, Hot Metal Bridge, The Boiler Journal, Paper Darts, River Teeth, The Acentos Review, Okey-Panky, Sycamore Review, SALT, Huizache, online as The Missouri Review's Poem of the Week, on The Slowdown with Tracy K. Smith.     Michael was born and brought up in Pomona, CA, where he spent his adolescence as a graffiti artist. Currently, he teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.     Michael Torres' Website   Buy An Incomplete List of Names   Michael's Appearance on NPR's Code Switch   "In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Michael Torres" At about 3:20, Michael talks about growing up in Pomona, CA, and his relationship with language and literature   At about 6:00, Michael highlights his older sister's contributions in introducing him to great literature, and Michael details being immediately intrigued by Luis Rodriguez's Always Running   At about 10:00, Pete connects Luis Rodriguez and getting attention through his nickname and Michael's views of tagging and identity    At about 13:50, Michael responds to Pete's questions about connections between peer pressure and growing up, including how Michael's “Down” was inspired by Kendrick Lamar's “The Art of Peer Pressure”   At about 18:00, Pete flits from A Bronx Tale to a phenomenon with students' writing their full names in past years as the two “discuss the “desire to leave something behind”   At about 20:10, Pete cites profound and interesting lines from An Incomplete List of Names that deal with identity, and Pete asks about “Michael” and the delineation between his name and “Remek”   At about 22:00, Michael discusses what reading and writers inspired and thrilled him as he got into late high school and college, including 2Pac and The Rose that Grew From Concrete, Charles Bukowski, Gary Soto's The Elements of San Joaquin, and Albert Camus' The Stranger   At about 26:40, Michael further explains hip-hop's influence on him, including from groups like Dilated Peoples, A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Jurassic 5   At about 30:00, Michael lays out events and people who helped him find his writing voice and skill and community    At about 32:00, Michael highlights moments that convinced him of his love for poetry    At about 34:00, Michael highlights John Bramingham and others who helped him learn about the publication process   At about 35:30, A Mic and Dim Lights is highlighted as a open mic spot that fostered Michael's skills and confidence   At about 37:00, Pete asks about the transition from student to teacher/mentor for Michael, as Michael shouts out UC Riverside and Freddy Lopez   At about 40:10, Pete asks Michael about “Stop Looking My Name Like That” and ideas of the speaker as the poet   At about 42:40, Michael describes “writing in resistance” to conversations had at a conference he attended   At about 44:30, Pete talks about his favorite scene in moviedom, and its connections to innocence and nostalgia and Michael's writing   At about 45:30, Pete quotes some dynamite lines and asks Michael about ideas of identity   At about 49:30, Michael analyzes a profound line and connects it to memory and nostalgia    At about 51:00, Michael discusses community and connections to a “transaction” and the moving (no pun intended) poem “Push”   At about 52:10, Michael gives background on his father and perspectives on his dad's background and its connection to their relationship   At about 54:15, ideas of masculinity are explored through standout lines, including “Down” and its three iterations    At about 56:45, Michael talks about “masks” and tough exteriors and acting tough as ways of getting by and not getting “clowned”   At about 58:45, Michael gives background on an interesting and fitting phrase he uses in his poetry   At about 1:00:25, Pete and Michael discuss a tender line from “Down/II” as Michael gives background on the line as a mix of moments in his life   At about 1:03:30, Michael discusses ideas of youth valuing themselves as touched upon in his work   At about 1:05:20, Pete highlights a line from the collection that is representative of the whole   At about 1:07:00, Pete asks about Michael's community of writers and who moves him in 2022; Michael cites Willie Perdomo, Mary Szybist and “Incarnadine,” Patricia Smith, Paul Tran, Dustin Pearson, Emily Yoon, Chris McCormick, Eduardo Corral, and Chen Chen   At about 1:09:10, Michael reads from “Down/I”   At about 1:15:00, Michael reads Part VI and X of “Elegy Roll Call”   At about 1:17:00, Michael details upcoming projects   At about 1:21:00, Michael gives out social media/contact info     You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.      This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 122 with Sonora Reyes, the author of the forthcoming contemporary young adult novel, THE LESBIANA'S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL. They write fiction full of queer and Latinx characters in a variety of genres, with current projects in both kidlit and adult categories. Sonora is also the creator and host of the Twitter chat #QPOCChat, a monthly community-building chat for queer writers of color.     The episode will air on May 10.

Join us for the Haymarket Poetry Spring Showcase, where we'll celebrate new books by Noor Hindi, Maya Marshall, and Hope Wabuke. Pre-order Hope Wabuke's The Body Family, publishing in April: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781642596977 Pre-order Noor Hindi's DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW., publishing in May: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781642596960 Pre-order Maya Marshall's All the Blood Involved in Love, publishing in June: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781642596953 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Noor Hindi (she/her/hers) is a Palestinian-American poet and reporter. She is a 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow. DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. is her debut collection of poems. She lives in Dearborn. Follow her on Twitter @MyNrhindi. Maya Marshall is the author of chapbook Secondhand and cofounder of underbelly, a journal on the practical magic of poetic revision. She has earned fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, Callaloo, Watering Hole, Community of Writers and Cave Canem. Marshall previously served as artist-in-residence at Northwestern University and as faculty for Loyola University. She is the 2021-2023 Creative Writing Fellow in Poetry at Emory University. Hope Wabuke is a Ugandan American poet, essayist, and writer. She is the author of the forthcoming memoir Please Don't Kill My Black Son Please. Hope has published in The Guardian, The Root, Los Angeles Review of Books, and NPR among others. She is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a founding board member and former Media & Communications Director for the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction. José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. Suzi F. Garcia is a Peruvian-American poet and editor raised in the South. She is the author of the poetry chapbook A Homegrown Fairytale (Bone Bouquet, 2020), focusing on queering the reader relationship with Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. She is an upcoming editor for POETRY and executive editor of Noemi Press, where she has edited several award-winning books of poetry, craft, and more. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/2e3DzF-pIBU Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

January 6 is also Three Kings Day, celebrated for 45 years with a parade through East Harlem organized by El Museo del Barrio. This year, the COVID surge has again meant the parade is virtual. Willie Perdomo, New York State Poet Laureate, author of Smoking Lovely: The Remix (Haymarket Books, 2021) and The Crazy Bunch (Penguin Books, 2019), and one of this year's honorary "Kings" in El Museo's Three Kings Day celebration, and Suni Reyes, actress and comedian, host of El Museo's Three Kings celebration, talk about what this holiday means for Latino New Yorkers and listeners call in to share their Three Kings traditions.

New York state's new Poet Laureate brings awards to Latin Hip Hop poetry.

Produced by DuEwa World - Consulting + Bookings http://www.duewaworld.com Ep. 35 *SEASON 2* DuEwa interviews award winning poet, Willie Perdomo. Willie discusses his latest book Smoking Lovely: The Remix (2021, Haymarket Books) and being newly appointed New York State Poet. Visit www.willieperdomo.com. Pick up Willie's book at your local bookstore or at HayMarketBooks.com. TWEET your thoughts on this episode @nerdacitypod1. FOLLOW on Instagram @nerdacitypodcast. SUPPORT future episodes with a donation at PayPal.me/DuEwaWorld or Anchor.fm/duewafrazier/support SUBSCRIBE @ApplePodcasts @SpotifyPodcasts and YouTube.com/DuEwaWorld for videos of this podcast. Visit DuEwa's website at www.duewaworld.com. Thanks for listening! BIO Willie Perdomo is the author of Smoking Lovely: The Remix, The Crazy Bunch, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, and Where a Nickel Costs of Dime.  Winner of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, and the PEN Open Book Award, Perdomo was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award.  He is co-editor of the anthology, Latínext, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, Washington Post, The Best American Poetry 2019, and African Voices. He teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy and was recently appointed New York State Poet Laureate. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/duewafrazier/support

In this week's episode of the Get Lit Minute, your weekly poetry podcast, we spotlight Puerto Rican writer, Wille Perdomo. He is the author of The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin Poets, 2014), a National Book Critics Circle Awards finalist, Where a Nickel Costs a Dime (W. W. Norton & Company, a Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award finalist, 1996),[1] Postcards of El Barrio (Isla Negra Press, 2002), and Smoking Lovely (Rattapallax Press, 2003),[2] which received a PEN Beyond Margins Award.[3] His children's book, Visiting Langston, received the Coretta Scott King Honor. Perdomo was also the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship in 2001 and 2009.“Bad Habits” Petey liked to twist the right end of his mustache when he was   listening for updates. (Y'all remember Petey. He was always   on that chuck chill-out tip, but most days he didn't get   to choose.) When he ignited a squabble, Chuna would slap his right thigh to   get every syllable out with a violent scansion. Tommy Lee threw rocks at unsuspecting pigeons. Dwight kept his right hand tucked into the crotch of his Lees,   steady stunting on some bollo. Angel bit his tongue when he wanted to ask a question. Max counted his money and his money counted him. Brother Lo liked to whistle “All the Things You Are” when it   rained that Puerto Rico rain. Chee-wa's nose used to break out into an anxious table of   contents when he was skied up. Papu would dance if he wanted to make a point. So, imagine   him saying, Nah, nah, nah, fuck that shit, and poppin' &   lockin' on every word. Nestor hated the words Stop, I was only playing. Loco Tommy blinked three times, convulsively, and then tapped   the right side of his face against his right shoulder blade. Jujo spit and spit and spit and spit. Popeye had a villainous laugh. Dre loved to crash revivals. Chino Chan did back handsprings from sewer to sewer   whenever he received good news. Georgie could scratch his ankle straight through a   graveyard shift. The first thing out of Skinicky's mouth was always a feeling.Learn more about Perdomo and read the full poem "Bad Habits" via our Get Lit Anthology. Support the show (https://getlit.org/donate/)

Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Felicia's teaching career began in Chicago, where she served as Program Director to Young Chicago Authors and founded GirlSpeak, a feminist webzine for high school students. Dr. Tonya Perry is a Professor and Director of the Red Mountain Writing Project. In 2000-2001, she was named Alabama Teacher of the Year and further awarded National Teacher of the Year Finalist. In 2012, she was named by colleagues and students the recipient of the UAB Teaching Excellence Award. On a national level, she serves as a member of the Research on Women in Education executive board affiliated with AERA, director of the NCTE Cultivating New Voices program, a member of the Beloved Community in the National Writing Project's Write Now Teacher Studio, and a former National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Executive Board Member.

Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Felicia's teaching career began in Chicago, where she served as Program Director to Young Chicago Authors and founded GirlSpeak, a feminist webzine for high school students.Dr. Tonya Perry is a Professor and Director of the Red Mountain Writing Project. In 2000-2001, she was named Alabama Teacher of the Year and further awarded National Teacher of the Year Finalist. In 2012, she was named by colleagues and students the recipient of the UAB Teaching Excellence Award. On a national level, she serves as a member of the Research on Women in Education executive board affiliated with AERA, director of the NCTE Cultivating New Voices program, a member of the Beloved Community in the National Writing Project's Write Now Teacher Studio, and a former National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Executive Board Member.

Seema Yasmin gathers a powerful line-up of poets—George Abraham, Aracelis Girmay, José Olivarez, Janice Lobo Sapigao, and Yalini Thambynayagam—to celebrate Yasmin's poetry collection, If God Is A Virus. Based on original reporting from West Africa and the United States, and the poet's experiences as a doctor and journalist, If God Is A Virus charts the course of the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in history, telling the stories of Ebola survivors, outbreak responders, journalists and the virus itself. These documentary poems explore which human lives are valued, how editorial decisions are weighed, what role the aid industrial complex plays in crises, and how medical myths and rumor can travel faster than microbes. These poems also give voice to the virus. Eight percent of the human genome is inherited from viruses and the human placenta would not exist without a gene descended from a virus. If God Is A Virus reimagines viruses as givers of life and even authors of a viral-human self-help book. Featuring: Dr. Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, medical doctor, disease detective and author. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news reporting in 2017 with her team from The Dallas Morning News for coverage of a mass shooting. Yasmin was a disease detective in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she chased outbreaks in maximum-security prisons, American Indian reservations, border towns and hospitals. Currently, Dr. Yasmin is a Stanford professor, medical analyst for CNN and science correspondent for Conde Nast Entertainment. Find her at seemayasmin.com, Twitter @DoctorYasmin and Instagram: @drseemayasmin. Aracelis Girmay is the author of three books of poems: the black maria (BOA, 2016); Teeth (Curbstone Press, 2007), winner of a GLCA New Writers Award; and Kingdom Animalia (BOA, 2011), the winner of the Isabella Gardner Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Girmay currently serves as the Margaret Bundy Scott Professor in the English Department. George Abraham is a Palestinian-American poet, educator, and engineer who grew up on unceded Timucuan lands. They are the author of their debut collection Birthright, winner of the Big Other Book Award, finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Poetry, and was named on Best of 2020 lists with The Asian American Writers' Workshop and The New Arab. Janice Lobo Sapigao (she/her) is a daughter of immigrants from the Philippines, and the author of two books of poetry: microchips for millions and like a solid to a shadow. She's been profiled in Content Magazine, Mercury News, SF Gate, and Metro Silicon Valley. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as Apogee Journal, Entropy, The Offing, poets.org, Split This Rock's Poem-of-the-Week, and Waxwing Literary Journal. José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. https://joseolivarez.com/ YaliniDream is a touring performing artist, organizer, somatics practitioner, and consultant with over twenty years' experience using artistic tools for healing, organizing, and dignity with communities contending with violence and oppression. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/QPIZZhVeTGY Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Willie Perdomo brings a legendary roster of poets to celebrate his radically revised new edition Smoking Lovely: The Remix. Hosted by José Olivares, Willie Perdomo will be joined in celebration by Ashley August, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Gabriel Cortez, María Fernanda, Roberto Garlos Garcia, Jasminne Mendez, Anacaona Rocio Milagro, Yesenia Montilla, Janel Pineda, Joseph Rios, and Vincent Toro. Speakers: Willie Perdomo is the author of The Crazy Bunch and The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, and Where a Nickel Costs of Dime. Winner of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, the New York City Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN Open Book Award, Perdomo was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. He is co-editor of the anthology, LatiNext, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, Washington Post, The Best American Poetry 2019, and African Voices. Also featuring: José Olivarez Ashley August Cortney Lamar Charleston Gabriel Cortez María Fernanda Roberto Carlos Garcia Jasminne Mendez Anacaona Rocio Milagro Yesenia Montilla Janel Pineda Joseph Rios Vincent Toro Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/9HqfrvsOGbw Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Hello everyone! If you have been paying attention to the news surrounding education at all, then you have probably heard people debate over terms like anti-racism, whiteness, decolonization, and white supremacy. As someone who is deeply invested in being better for my students, I feel like it's my duty to understand these highly contentious debates, the terms used, and why certain parties feel the way they do. In part 2 of my discussion with Felecia Rose Chavez about the Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, we dive into her personal experiences in the writing workshop, and open up the above terms in ways I believe truly help everyone involved learn why these terms are used, and what they actually mean in the context of our work in the classroom. Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she currently serves as the Creativity and Innovation Scholar-in-Residence at Colorado College. You DO NOT want to miss this one. If you missed it last week, click here.      This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their professional book, Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School Community by Liz Kleinrock. Most of us want to help cultivate an antibias and antiracist classroom and school community, but we don't know how or where to start. This book helps us set ourselves up for success and prepare for the mistakes we'll make along the way. Start Here, Start Now addresses the challenges that educators committed to antibias and antiracism face every day. Liz provides concrete strategies to overcome some of the barriers that prevent us from engaging in this work and includes lessons and activities we can start using in our classrooms right away. This book will help break habits that hold us back from this work, as well as build positive, sustainable teaching for the future. Start Here, Start Now is available as a book, ebook, and audiobook. To learn more and download a sample, visit Heinemann.com. 

Hello everyone! If you have been following me on social media at all, then you have seen me gush about The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop book by Felicia Rose Chavez. After ten pages I was sold. After twenty I had nearly as many screenshots taken of key phrases and insights. By page thirty, I was certain I needed to bring Felicia's powerful voice onto the show. Luckily, she agreed, and I could not be more excited to bring this to you today. Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she currently serves as the Creativity and Innovation Scholar-in-Residence at Colorado College. In this episode, we dive into her insight into how an anti-racist writing workshop differs from the traditional workshop model, why we need to alter how we view the teacher as "master," and how altering our practices can empower the future voices of this country. You DO NOT want to miss this one.     This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their professional book, Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School Community by Liz Kleinrock. Most of us want to help cultivate an antibias and antiracist classroom and school community, but we don't know how or where to start. This book helps us set ourselves up for success and prepare for the mistakes we'll make along the way. Start Here, Start Now addresses the challenges that educators committed to antibias and antiracism face every day. Liz provides concrete strategies to overcome some of the barriers that prevent us from engaging in this work and includes lessons and activities we can start using in our classrooms right away. This book will help break habits that hold us back from this work, as well as build positive, sustainable teaching for the future. Start Here, Start Now is available as a book, ebook, and audiobook. To learn more and download a sample, visit Heinemann.com. 

Creative writing workshops have remained largely unchanged since their creation in 1936. But what if there’s a better, more empowering, more inclusive way? Jared talks to Felicia Rose Chavez about her new book, The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom. They unpack MFA student advocacy, discuss the benefits of collaboration over competition, and reconceptualize the workshop. Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Felicia’s teaching career began in Chicago, where she served as Program Director to Young Chicago Authors and founded GirlSpeak, a feminist webzine for high school students. She went on to teach writing at the University of New Mexico, where she was distinguished as the Most Innovative Instructor of the Year, the University of Iowa, where she was distinguished as the Outstanding Instructor of the Year, and Colorado College, where she received the Theodore Roosevelt Collins Outstanding Faculty Award. Her creative scholarship earned her a Ronald E. McNair Fellowship, a University of Iowa Graduate Dean’s Fellowship, a Riley Scholar Fellowship, and a Hadley Creatives Fellowship. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she currently serves as the Creativity and Innovation Scholar-in-Residence at Colorado College. For more information about The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, and to access a multi-genre compilation of contemporary writers of color and progressive online publishing platforms, please visit www.antiracistworkshop.com. Follow Felicia on Instagram at @feliciarosechavez and on Twitter @writerantiracist. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com. Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

This is the third and final in a series of events curated by Cortney Lamar Charleston in collaboration with The BreakBeat Poets and Haymarket Books, to celebrate the release of his new collection, Doppelgangbanger. Poets: Cortney Lamar Charleston is originally from the Chicago suburbs. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a BS in Economics from the Wharton School and BA in Urban Studies from the College of Arts & Sciences. While attending Penn, he was most interested in the business as a political entity, the relationship between the public and private sectors and the physical and sociological construction of cities. It was during his college years that he began writing and performing poetry as a member of The Excelano Project. Charleston's academic interests, coupled with his upbringing spent bouncing between Chicago's South Side and its South and West suburbs, immediately influence his written work. Charleston's poems paint themselves against the backgrounds of past and present; they grapple with race, masculinity, class, family, faith and how identity is, functionally, a transition zone between all of these competing markers. Said differently, his poetry is a kind of marriage between art and activism, a call for a more involved and empathetic understanding of the diversity of the human experience. This same line of thought frames his philosophy as Poetry Editor at The Rumpus. He also currently serves on the Alice James Books Editorial Board. Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black poet from Chicago. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Callaloo, BOAAT, Tin House, Milkweed Editions, and The Watering Hole. Julian is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. Julian is the winner of the 2019 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Publishing Triangle and the 2019 Frederick Bock Prize. His poetry has been published in New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, and POETRY and anthologized in The Breakbeat Poets Vol.4, Nepantla and Furious Flower. He has essays in Vibe, Black Nerd Problems, and other venues. He holds an MFA in Poetry from Ole Miss. He is the author of Refuse (Pitt, Fall 2018), winner of the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and a finalist for a 2019 NAACP Image Award, the Middle Grade novel Pilar Ramirez And The Prison of Zafa (Holt, Winter 2022). He talks a lot about poems and other things on Twitter at @JulianThePoet. José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/d7eErci3NLs Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Felicia Rose Chavez and Kiese Laymon as they discuss The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop's call to consciously work against traditions of dominance in the classroom and how to achieve authentically inclusive writing communities. Get a copy of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1552-the-anti-racist-writing-workshop ---------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is the author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Chavez served as Program Director to Young Chicago Authors and founded GirlSpeak, a literary webzine for young women. She went on to teach writing at the University of New Mexico, where she was distinguished as the Most Innovative Instructor of the Year, the University of Iowa, where she was distinguished as the Outstanding Instructor of the Year, and Colorado College, where she received the Theodore Roosevelt Collins Outstanding Faculty Award. Her creative scholarship earned her a Ronald E. McNair Fellowship, a University of Iowa Graduate Dean's Fellowship, a Riley Scholar Fellowship, and a Hadley Creatives Fellowship. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Felicia currently serves as Scholar-in-Residence in Creativity and Innovation at Colorado College. Find her at www.antiracistworkshop.com. Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA in Fiction from Indiana University. Laymon is currently the Ottilie Schillig Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. He served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Nonfiction at the University of Iowa in Fall 201. Laymon is the author of the novel Long Division , the collection of essays How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir. Heavy, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose and Audible's Audiobook of the Year, was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by the The Undefeated, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Library Journal, The Washington Post, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times Critics. Laymon is the recipient of the 2019 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. Laymon has written essays, stories and reviews for numerous publications including Esquire, McSweeneys, New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, ESPN the Magazine, Granta, Colorlines, NPR, LitHub, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, PEN Journal, Fader, Oxford American, Vanity Fair, The Best American Series, Ebony, Travel and Leisure, Paris Review, Guernica and more. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/6B1_pIVzPRU Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Are you ready to celebrate Janel Pineda's Lineage of Rain? With special guests: Kay Ulanday Barrett, féi hernandez, Vanessa Angélica Villareal AND Jihyun Yun?! Hosted by José Olivarez?! Y'all: get ready for the real. ---------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Janel Pineda is a Los-Angeles born Salvadoran poet and educator. She has performed her poetry internationally in both English and Spanish, and been published in LitHub, PANK, The BreakBeat Poets, Vol. 4: LatiNext, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the U.S. among others. As a Marshall Scholar, she holds an MA in Creative Writing and Education from Goldsmiths, University of London. Janel's debut poetry chapbook, Lineage of Rain, is forthcoming from Haymarket Books. Kay Ulanday Barrett is a poet, performer, and cultural strategist. Barrett's latest book More Than Organs received a 2021 Stonewall Honor Book Award in Literature by the American Library Association. They have featured at The Lincoln Center, The U.N., Symphony Space, The Poetry Project, Princeton University, NYU, The Dodge Poetry Foundation, The Hemispheric Institute, and Brooklyn Museum. They've received fellowship invitations from MacDowell, Lambda Literary, Drunken Boat, VONA, The Home School, VCCA, Monson Arts, and Macondo. They are a 3x Pushcart Prize nominee and 2x Best of the Net nominee. They have written two poetry books, When The Chant Comes (Topside Press, 2016) and More Than Organs (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020). They currently reside in NYC/NJ and remix their mama's recipes with the company of their jowly dog. féi hernandez (b.1993 Chihuahua, México) is an Inglewood-raised immigrant trans non-binary visual artist, writer, and healer. Currently, they are the President of the Advisory Board for Gender Justice Los Angeles. They have been published in Poetry, Oxford Review of Books, Frontier, NPR's Code Switch, BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT, PANK Magazine amongst others. féi is the author of Hood Criatura (Sundress Publications, 2020). Vanessa Angélica Villarreal was born in the Rio Grande Valley to Mexican immigrants. She is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award and the author of the award-winning collection Beast Meridian (Noemi Press, Akrilica Series, 2017), a 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award finalist, and winner of the John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Paris Review, Boston Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, the Rumpus, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, Buzzfeed Reader, and Poetry Magazine, where her poem “f = [(root) (future)]” was honored with the 2019 Friends of Literature Prize. Find her on Twitter @Vanessid. Jihyun Yun is a Korean American poet from the San Francisco Bay Area. Winner of the 2019 Prairie Schooner Prize in poetry, her debut collection Some Area Always Hungry [an urgently beautiful collection] was published by University of Nebraska Press in September 2020. Her work has appeared in Best New Poets, Adroit, Narrative Magazine and elsewhere. José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/Tz02p_U9-g4 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Editors José Olivarez and Willie Perdomo will be joined by special guests Diannely Antigua, Rigoberto González, Janel Pineda, and Raquel Salas Rivera, for an event to launch the new anthology The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. In the dynamic tradition of the BreakBeat Poets anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext celebrates the embodied narratives of Latinidad. Poets speak from an array of nationalities, genders, sexualities, races, and writing styles, staking a claim to our cultural and civic space. Like Hip-Hop, we honor what was, what is, and what's next. Get the book: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1491-the-breakbeat-poets-vol-4 Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/MIBC7OtkrkA Buy books from Haymarket: haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Hosted by Kevin Coval and Idris Goodwin, The BreakBeat Poets Live is a virtual, multi-generational showcase of some of the illest writers on the planet rock. Each chapter features writers and performers who are part of the Haymarket Books family. --- Kevin Coval is a poet and author of A People's History of Chicago and over ten other collections, anthologies, and chapbooks. ​He is the founder and editor of the BreakBeat Poets series for Haymarket Books, artistic director for Young Chicago Authors, and the founder of Louder than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival. --- Idris Goodwin is the playwright, producer, educator, who coined the term “breakbeat poet.” He is the author of Can I Kick It? and the Pushcart–nominated collection These Are the Breaks. His publications also include Inauguration, cowritten with Nico Wilkinson, and Human Highlight: An Ode to Dominique Wilkins and This Is Modern Art, both cowritten with Kevin Coval. --- Comprised of two gifted musicians, The O'My's channel their experiences and perspective into gritty, polished music that grabs listeners with its sound, and holds them with its content. Nick Hennessey and Maceo Vidal-Haymes, two Chicago natives, man the keys and guitar respectively, with Maceo handling vocal duties. --- Penelope Alegria is the Chicago Youth Poet Laureate for 2019-2020 and a two-time member of Young Chicago Authors' artistic apprenticeship. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in La Nueva Semana, Muse/A Journal, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT, and elsewhere. She is a Brain Mill Press Editor's Pick and was awarded the 2018 Literary Award by Julian Randall. --- Tarfia Faizullah is the author of two poetry collections, Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf 2018) and Seam (SIU 2014). The recipient of a Fulbright fellowship, three Pushcart prizes, and other honors, Tarfia has been featured in periodicals, magazines, and anthologies both here and abroad. --- Krista Franklin is a writer and visual artist, the author Too Much Midnight (Haymarket Books, 2020), the artist book Under the Knife (Candor Arts, 2018), and the chapbook Study of Love & Black Body (Willow Books, 2012). She is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, and a frequent contributor to the projects of fellow artists. Her visual art has exhibited at Poetry Foundation, Konsthall C, Rootwork Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Studio Museum in Harlem, Chicago Cultural Center, National Museum of Mexican Art, and the set of20th Century Fox's Empire. --- chicago born and raised, roy kinsey is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to tradition in his respective industries. where being a black, queer-identified, rapper, and librarian may be an intimidating choice for some, roy kinsey's non-conformist ideology has informed his 4th album, and self proclaimed, “best work yet,” blackie: a story by roy kinsey. --- Willie Perdomo is the author of The Crazy Bunch, which recently won the New York City Book Award for poetry, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Smoking Lovely, winner of the PEN Open Book Award, and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, a finalist for the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. He is also a co-editor of the BreakBeat Poetry Series anthology, LatiNext. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/BbAovRbt6Zw Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

The BreakBeat Poets Live! is a virtual, multi-generational showcase of some of the illest writers on the planet rock. Each chapter features writers and performers who are part of the Haymarket Books family. Mixing lofi soul instrumentals with funk influences and smooth vocals. Elton Aura has a unique knack for words, flow, and beat selection. He opened up for Noname on her Room 25 tour in 2019 and is in the later stages of his next project coming in 2020. Cortney Lamar Charleston is a Cave Canem fellow and Pushcart Prize-winning author of Telepathologies (Saturnalia Books, 2017) and the forthcoming Doppelgangbanger (Haymarket Books, 2021). Aracelis Girmay is the author of the poetry books Teeth, Kingdom Animalia, and the black maria, and the picture book changing, changing. She is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund and recently edited a new Selected of Lucille Clifton poems entitled How to Carry Water. --- Juan J. Morales is the son of an Ecuadorian mother and Puerto Rican father. He is the author of three poetry collections, including The Handyman's Guide to End Times, Winner of the 2019 International Latino Book Award. He is a CantoMundo Fellow, a Macondo Fellow, the Editor/Publisher of Pilgrimage Press, and Professor and Department Chair of English & World Languages at Colorado State University-Pueblo. --- José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His book, Citizen Illegal, won of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize and was named a top book of 2018 by NPR. ​He holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, and the Bronx Council on the Arts. Olivarez was awarded the Author and Artist in Justice award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. He is a recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. --- Willie Perdomo is the author of The Crazy Bunch, which recently won the New York City Book Award for poetry, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Smoking Lovely, winner of the PEN Open Book Award, and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, a finalist for the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. He is also a co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Best American Poetry 2019, and African Voices. He is currently a Lucas Arts Literary Fellow and teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy. --- Diamond Sharp is a poet and essayist from Chicago. She has performed at Chicago's Stage 773 and her work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio. She has been published in the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Vice, Pitchfork, Lenny, PANK, and others. A Callaloo fellow, she has also attended the Wright/Hurston workshop and is a member of the inaugural Poetry Foundation Incubator class. Her debut book of poetry, Super Sad Black Girl, is forthcoming from Haymarket Books. Diamond is an alumna of Wellesley College. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/9fyjCPbIKCM Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome José Olivarez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere.

Recorded by Willie Perdomo for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on February 9, 2021. www.poets.org

On today's show we have a conversation between authors Vincent Toro and Willie Perdomo. Vincent Toro’s new poetry collection TERTULIA examines immigration, economics, colonialism and race via the sublime imagery of music, visual art, and history. Willie Perdomo is a prize-winning poet, whose new collection THE CRAZY BUNCH chronicles a weekend in the life of a group of friends coming of age in East Harlem at the dawn of the hip-hop era.

“All I'm doing is pointing out the obvious - and that's avant-garde in a country that dares not to look at itself and its own atrocities in the mirror.” - José Torres-Tama, New Orleans In this episode we dive into the responsibility of the artist, laptop activism, solidarity between Latinx, Undocumented, and Black people, and the urgency to continue creating and sharing new work during these pandemic times, including the latest releases in José’s series of Video Cortaditos and Picante Performance Poems on YouTube.  José Torres-Tama is a writer, poet, journalist, renegade scholar, educator, visual and performance artist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He explores the effects of mass media on race relations, the underbelly of the “North American Dream” mythology, and the anti-immigrant hysteria currently gripping the United States of Amnesia, “which seduces you to embrace forgetting”.  Show Notes: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, a historic and highly respected home for poetry, slam, music and theatre in New York Poets José mentions: Keith Roach, Lois Griffth, Sarah Jones and Willie Perdomo This Taco Truck Kills Fascists, an award winning documentary on the Taco Truck Theatre The Taco Truck Theatre, a “theater on wheels ensemble performance challenging the anti-immigrant hysteria & driven by a live music sound-bed. All with tacos for sale.” Black Lives Matter, a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes Spirit McIntyre (Spirit/They/Them), an artist collaborator in the Taco Truck Theatre  El Sol Lotería playing card and José’s “happy hat”  José’s solo show (that’s been touring for 10 years!), Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers New Orleans & The World: 1718-2018 Tricentennial Anthology book published by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities that culturally deported and brutally disappeared Latin Americans and our undocumented immigrants that contributed to the reconstruction post-Katrina from their 2018 Tricentennial anthology. Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist VIDEO CORTADITOS & Picante Performance Poems, José’s video series on YouTube Voces Unidas LA, Louisiana Immigrant’s Rights Coalition that advocates for immigration policy reform and provides direct support to individuals in and out of ICE detention camps in Louisiana and beyond. Ta-Nehisi Coates and his book Between the World and Me The murder of Amadou Diallo by NY police James Baldwin, Black American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist José’s book recommendations, and this week’s Meriendas for the Brain: The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Zapata's Disciple: Essays by Martín Espada, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Bitácora Del Cruce by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and Franz Kafka  We want to acknowledge the historical moment we find ourselves in, and the long history of activism and labour from Black and Indigenous communities in their fight for justice. We are committed to continuing this conversation with this podcast and examining our own racism and biases as Latinx artists as we continue this project.  Here are some links to support the local pro-Black and Indigenous initiatives:   Links from Black Lives Matter Canada Map of Black & Indigenous Owned Businesses in Toronto to support now and onwards Links to US based funds and petitions     "Todo lo que estoy haciendo es señalar lo obvio, y eso es vanguardista en un país que no se atreve a verse a sí mismo ni a sus propias atrocidades en el espejo." - José Torres-Tama, Nueva Orleans  En este episodio nos sumergimos en lo que es la responsabilidad del artista, el activismo desde las laptops, la solidaridad entre las comunidades Latinxs, Indocumentadas y Afroamericanas, y la urgencia de seguir creando y compartiendo nuevos trabajos durante estos tiempos de pandemia, incluyendo el lanzamiento de la nueva serie de videos en YouTube creados por José, Video Cortaditos and Picante Performance Poems. José Torres-Tama es escritor, poeta, periodista, erudito renegado, educador, artista visual y de performance con sede en Nueva Orleans, Louisiana. Explora los efectos de los medios de comunicación en las relaciones raciales, la parte más vulnerable de la mitología del "sueño norteamericano" y la histeria antiinmigrante que actualmente se apodera de los Estados Unidos de Amnesia, "que te seduce para abrazar el olvido". Bibliografía: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, un histórico y muy respetado “hogar” para la poesía, el slam, la música y el teatro en Nueva York.  Poetas mencionados por José:  Keith Roach, Lois Griffth, Sarah Jones y Willie Perdomo. This Taco Truck Kills Fascists, un galardonado documental sobre el Taco Truck Theatre / Teatro Sin Fronteras The Taco Truck Theatre / Teatro Sin Fronteras, un "ensemble de teatro sobre ruedas que desafía la histeria anti-inmigrante y es conducido por una cama de sonido con música en vivo. Todo con tacos a la venta.” Black Lives Matter, una organización global en los Estados Unidos, el Reino Unido y Canadá, cuya misión es erradicar la supremacía blanca y construir el poder local para intervenir en la violencia infligida a las comunidades Afroamericanas por el estado y los vigilantes Spirit McIntyre (Spirit/They/Them), artista que colabora con el Taco Truck Theatre / Teatro Sin Fronteras “El Sol” Carta de Lotería y el “sombrero feliz” de José Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers, un solo show de José (que ha estado de gira por 10 años!) New Orleans & The World: 1718-2018 Tricentennial Anthology, libro publicado por "Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities" que deportó culturalmente y desapareció brutalmente a los latinoamericanos y a nuestros inmigrantes indocumentados que contribuyeron a la reconstrucción posterior a Katrina a partir de su antología del Tricentenario de 2018 Eduardo Galeano, periodista, escritor y novelista Uruguayo VIDEO CORTADITOS & Picante Performance Poems, serie de videos de José en YouTube Voces Unidas LA, coalición de los Derechos de Inmigrantes de Louisiana, que aboga por la reforma de la política de inmigración y brinda apoyo directo a las personas que entran y salen de los campos de detención de ICE en Louisiana y más allá El asesinato de Amadou Diallo por la policia de Nueva York Ta-Nehisi Coates y su libro Between the World and Me James Baldwin, novelista, dramaturgo, ensayista, poeta y activista Afroamericano Las recomendaciones de libros de José, y las Meriendas para el Cerebro de esta semana: The Undocumented Americans de Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Zapata's Disciple: Essays de Martín Espada, The Fire Next Time de James Baldwin, Bitácora Del Cruce de Guillermo Gómez-Peña, y Franz Kafka Queremos reconocer el momento histórico en el que nos encontramos, y la larga historia de activismo y trabajo de las comunidades Afrodescendientes e Indígenas en su lucha por la justicia. Estamos comprometidxs a continuar esta conversación a través de este podcast y examinar nuestro propio racismo y parcialidad como artistas Latinx a medida que continuemos este proyecto. Aquí hay algunos enlaces para apoyar las iniciativas locales pro-Afrodescendientes e Indígenas: Links para Black Lives Matter Canada  Mapa de Negocios Afro-Canadienses e Indigenas en Toronto  Lista de links y peticiones en Estados Unidos   All Merendiando episodes are in Spanglish. New episodes of Radio Aluna Theatre are released every Wednesday. Follow and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Radio Aluna Teatro is produced by Aluna Theatre with support from the Metcalf Foundation, The Laidlaw Foundation, The Canada Council for the Arts, and The Ontario Arts Council. Aluna Theatre is Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus, with Sue Balint & Gia Nahmens; Radio Aluna Theatre is produced by Camila Diaz-Varela and Monica Garrido. For more about Aluna Theatre, visit us at alunatheatre.ca, follow @alunatheatre on twitter or instagram, or ‘like’ us on facebook. Todos los episodios de Merendiando son en Inglés, Español y Spanglish. Nuevos episodios de Radio Aluna Teatro cada Miércoles. Síguenos y suscríbete a este podcast en iTunes, Google Play, y donde sea que escuches tus podcasts. Radio Aluna Teatro es una producción de Aluna Theatre con el apoyo de Metcalf Foundation, Laidlaw Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, y Ontario Arts Council. Aluna Theatre es Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus, con Sue Balint & Gia Nahmens. Radio Aluna Theatre es producido por Camila Díaz-Varela y Mónica Garrido. Para más información sobre Aluna Theatre, visita nuestra página alunatheatre.ca, síguenos en twitter @alunatheatre o en instagram, o haz click en “me gusta” en facebook.  

In the early 1990s, Willie Perdomo was a teenager growing up in East Harlem. He saw and experienced firsthand a tumultuous moment in New York City, including the crack epidemic and the consequences of the war on drugs. In his latest book of poetry, "The Crazy Bunch," Perdomo wrangles with that history and the ghosts of that time. Latino USA's Antonia Cereijido takes a walk with Perdomo through his old neighborhood of Harlem to discuss his teenage years and how memories of that time inspired his newest work.This story originally aired in July of 2019.

The Cornerstore spoke with José Olivarez & Willie Perdomo, 2 editors of The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, about their current experience with releasing this new anthology into the world right now. José & Willie also express what kind of conversations they hope this book will cause; what it was like working so closely together; […]

The Cornerstore spoke with José Olivarez & Willie Perdomo, 2 editors of The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, about their current experience with releasing this new anthology into the world right now. José & Willie also express what kind of conversations they hope this book will cause; what it was like working so closely together; and much more. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

VONA/Voices Alumna Tatiana Ramirez joins Jill Fredenburg and Taylor Vinson this week on the poetry prompt podcast. Studied under award-winning poet Willie Perdomo, Tatiana has been published in Pool Poetry, Spillwords, The Acentos Review, A Gypsy's Library, and Here Comes Everyone: East & West Issue. She mainly performs in the greater Washington D.C. area, but has also shared her work throughout the continental United States and the Dominican Republic. She is currently working on her first collection of poetry Coconut Curls y Café con Leche. We discuss how her Afroboricua identity influences her creative spacemaking here and prompt our listeners to write and rewrite with rhythm and sound in mind. Art by Moroumi Li and Music by Eva Lennuk --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-poetry-prompt-podcast/message

Welcome back to another episode of the Pan Con Titeres Podcast, the official podcast of the Titere Poets Collective!For this past National Poetry Month, we had the special and honored opportunity to interview one of our literary heroes, the one and only Willie Perdomo. We talk about his new book, The Crazy Bunch, poetry, masculinity, Titereja, and our usual Titere antics. You cannot miss this episode!

The editors discuss Willie Perdomo’s poem “That’s My Heart Right There” from the January 2019 issue of Poetry.

Episode 77 - #Poetsforpuertorico was a hit. Willie Perdomo, thank you, thank you, thank you. The room was packed. A historic night for the spoken. Without a doubt. A vitamin room. A space for solidarity and Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico. Poet Cynthia Dewi Oka is off the charts. Her ode to Puerto Rico was like few I’ve ever met, for anyone or anything. The wound penned to slash the jugular. I feel like the different patches of a knitted quilt. I spoke musician, activist, director, writer, musical theater advocate Local 802, Marlena Fitzpatrick, about her piece for the Huffington Post, More Than Prayers: How the Diaspora Can Help Our Families in Puerto Rico because she ‘admitted’ she wasn’t being objective about her assessment of how best to help the island. This is in short vignettes, the voice of her seeing eyes. The little things do matter. Sol

This is a different time. I know it’s not specific enough, but it’s specific enough for you to understand. The colossal breakdown of morals and decency in government agency looks to me like we’re trapped and on track towards a worldwide holocaust. I said it once before in this Letter to the President, we, the people, we have nowhere else to run…but millions are, we’re moving in circles because the earth is round. The past week has been intense. Puerto Rican families are being displaced, my own included, I welcomed three into my home - the elder, the frail, the women and children, the strong father, the young, an exodus. Blue tarps are needed in Puerto Rico. The island needs over 40,000 blue tarps and they are not getting delivered. The reasons vary. I have gotten news of this need a couple of times a week since the hurricane. The video link is from Friday. The reasons vary, from there isn’t enough humanitarian inventory to FEMA taking too much time inputting inventory clearance. The news here and there trickles out. Still no blue tarps, more rain has fallen, and people continue to lose more of what they don’t have. The news of need of tarps has been traveling around since a bit after September 20. I say there needs to be an alliance of middle-big agencies that together should place an industrial order of blue tarps and work together to distribute. The shadow ‘strok’ distribution system still stands. What an image... Which brings me to poetry. Poets, poems, and writers say it best. Artists in general capture quagmire like no else, which is why we need them. I have spoken with so many people in the past month I’m trying to piece together a cohesive picture, but what I get is a fractured cohesive piece of feeling. Willie and I had a great talk but the sound sucked. I kept about 10 minutes of our talk because Willie was so sincere and the sound was at its best. #PoetsforPuertoRico will raise funds for Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico. A who’s-who of Poetry will gather on November 4th at Poetry House for a reading for Hurricane Relief. I have more to share and will, I just have not had time. In the meantime. Here’s acclaimed Willie Perdomo.

On this episode of The Poetry Gods, we talk to Willie Perdomo about how he got started writing poetry, The Crazy Bunch, friendships in poetry, and so much more. As always you can reach us at emailthepoetrygods@gmail.com. We love to hear from you, so please drop us a line! Leave us a review on iTunes! Bring us to your college/ local hummus emporium! WILLIE PERDOMO BIO: WILLIE PERDOMO is the author of The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin Poets), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and Milton Kessler Poetry Award; winner of the International Latino Book Award, and a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee. He is also the author of Smoking Lovely (Rattapallax), winner of the PEN/Beyond Margins Awards and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime (Norton), a finalist for the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. Perdomo is a Pushcart nominee, two-time New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellow and a former Woolrich Fellow in Creative Writing at Columbia University. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, Bomb Magazine, and African Voices. He is currently a member of the VONA/Voices faculty and an English Instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy. Follow Willie Perdomo on Instagram & Twitter: @willieperdomo Visit Willie's website: http://willieperdomo.com/ Follow The Poetry Gods on all social media: @_joseolivarez, @azizabarnes/ @azizabarneswriter (IG), @iamjonsands, @thepoetrygods & CHECK OUR WEBSITE: thepoetrygods.com/ (much thanks to José Ortiz for designing the website! shouts to Jess X Snow for making our logo)

Music: Santigold Poets: VONA Voices Writers and faculty along with Willow Books Authors read at the Fall's Lounge in downtown LA for AWP 2016. This is a live recording. Mahogany L. Brown, Yesenia Montilla, Cedric Tillman and Willie Perdomo. Guest: Jessica Taylor, CEO of Rolltape.

Willie Perdomo is the author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime (Norton, 1996) and Smoking Lovely (Rattapallax, 2003), which won the 2004 PEN American Beyond Margins Award. His work has been included in several anthologies including Poems of New York, The Harlem Reader and Metropolis Found. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Bomb, and PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers. He is also the author of Visiting Langston, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book for Children, illustrated by Bryan Collier. He has been featured on several PBS documentaries including Words in Your Face and The United States of Poetry and has appeared on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and BET’s “Hughes’ Dream Harlem.” Perdomo is the recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction and Poetry Fellowships. He currently teaches at Friends Seminary and Bronx Academy of Letters.Perdomo read in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall on August 30, 2007. This interview took place earlier the same day.