Celebration: Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home/Ars Topográfica

An exploration of 'home' through the lens of Salvadoran poets, as part of the national humanities initiative, Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, celebrating the rich legacy of Latino poetry across the country.

Leticia Hernández-Linares hosts and moderates this one of a kind poetry event featuring Claudia Castro Luna (Seattle, WA), M.K. Chávez (Oakland, CA) and Alexandra Lytton-Regalado (El Salvador). This panel of Salvadoran writers, representing multiple cities, will read from their work and engage in a discussion on themes such as first and second homes, eco-consciousness, gentrification, and what home means to them. 

Castro Luna and Chavez will present in person and Lytton-Regaldo via Zoom. 

Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018–2021) and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). She is the author of Cipota Under the Moon (Tia Chucha Press, 2022) and Killing Marías (Two Sylvias Press, 2017) both shortlisted for the WA State Book Award in poetry (2023 and 2018 respectively). She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press, 2020) and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press, 2016). Born in El Salvador, Castro Luna arrived in the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, she writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands. 

Claudia Castro Luna - Website | Claudia Castro Luna - Instagram

MK Chavez is an art monster, a siguanaba, writer and educator. Chavez’s writing explores mixed-race identity, social justice, environmental resilience, horror cinema, magic, ritual and the creative process. Chavez’s work has been recognized with the Pen Josephine Miles Award, San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award and the Ruth Weiss Maverick Award. Their  literary offerings include Dear Animal, Mothermorphosis, the lyric essay chapbook A Brief History of the Selfie and Virgin Eyes. 

MK Chavez - Website | MK Chavez - Instagram

Leticia Hernández-Linares is an interdisciplinary, bilingual writer, artist and racial justice educator.  She is the author of Mucha Muchacha, Too Much Girl and Alejandria Fights Back! ¡La lucha de Alejandria!

An Assistant Professor in Latina, Latino Studies at San Francisco State University, she received the Community Appreciation Teyolía Award from the San Francisco Flor y Canto Poetry Festival in 2023.  She has lived, created, taught, performed and protested in the Mission District for thirty years. 

Leticia Hernández-Linares - Website | Leticia Hernández-Linares - Instagram

Alexandra Lytton Regalado is a Salvadoran-American author, editor and translator. Her works include Relinquenda, winner of the National Poetry Series (Beacon Press, 2022) and Matria (Black Lawrence Press, 2017). She is co-founding editor of Kalina Press, president of the board of directors of the Salvadoran Cultural Institute  and assistant editor at SWWIM.

Alexandra Lytton Regalado - Website | Alexandra Lytton Regalado - Instagram

English: 

This program is presented as part of Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, a major public humanities initiative taking place across the nation in 2024 and 2025, directed by Library of America and funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective.
Español:

Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home (Lugares que llamamos hogar) es una gran iniciativa pública en el campo de las humanidades, que se proyecta para el 2024 – 2025. Es dirigida por Library of América con el generoso apoyo del Fondo Nacional para las Humanidades y Emerson Collective.

This event will take place at San Francisco State University,1600 Holloway Ave., HUM 133, San Francisco, CA 94132