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What did winning the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize and, as a result, having your first book published mean to you? What effect did it have on your writing career?

Emma Trelles:
Winning this prize has been an honor, and it immediately impacted my writing career, which to me is more of a way of living than a profession. I've been introduced to a wide community of Latino writers that I had not met or, in some instances, even known about, poets such as Brenda Cárdenas, John Murillo, Paul Martinez Pompa, and Silvia Curbelo, who selected my manuscript Tropicalia for the prize and whose aversion to po-business I find sort of punk rock and inspiring. I feel as if I've joined this vast array of art makers, all of us unified by some facet of Latino/Hispanic culture—perhaps language or music, perhaps the politics of displacement or gender. We are our own distinct voices, but the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize draws us into an unexpected harmony. Although I lived in Miami for a big portion of my life, and I'm of Cuban descent, I've never felt all that Latino, so my arrival to this sphere of writers is filled with a sense of discovery.

A part of her answer is disheartening. Her admission that she didn't even "know about" some Latino poets makes me sad. Hell, it pisses me off. A poet is a reader first. How can she claim to be a poet and not know what her contemporaries are writing? And yet, she's soon going to asking Latino poets to buy her book, to get to know her work. And I will. Because I support Latino/a poets. Because Latina/o poetry thrills me as a reader and provides me with fuel to keep the creative fires burning.

But I see this again and again in our community. So many young Latino/a poets don't read books published by other Latina/os.

Here's some some advice: Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read.

CantoMundo Master Poetry Workshop

Dear Latina and Latino poets,

We are inviting applications for the Inaugural CantoMundo Master Poetry Workshop, the only national, poetry-centered workshop/retreat specifically for Latina/o poets.

Inspired by the culturally-rooted visions of Cave Canem and Kundiman, CantoMundo seeks to create a space where Latina/o poets can:

1. nurture and enhance their poetics;
2. lecture and learn about aspects of Latina/o poetics currently not being discussed by the mainstream poetry publishers and critics; and
3. network with peer poets to enrich and further disseminate Latina/o poetry.

The Inaugural CantoMundo Master Poetry Workshop is a three-day retreat that will develop, sustain, and support a diverse community of Latina/o poets.

This year, CantoMundo will convene July 8-11, 2010, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Master Poets Martín Espada and Demetria Martínez will each teach a three-hour craft workshop. These workshops will center on a particular element of poetic craft that is of interest to the instructor. All participating poets will attend both workshops.

In addition to the workshops, a guest lecture and a craft lecture will be presented. Applicants are free to submit a proposal for a craft lecture to cover a topic of their choice.

CantoMundo also will include a reading and book-signing that will be open to the public.

The three-day retreat will culminate in a visioning session where participants will discuss and plan the subsequent CantoMundo gathering. All participants will be asked to provide input and volunteer time to this collaborative and cooperative resource for Latina/o poets.

Applicants are encouraged to submit an application to participate in the Master Poet Craft Workshop as well as a separate proposal to present a craft lecture, if desired.

Master Poet Craft Workshops

If you are interested in applying to participate in the Master Poet craft workshops, please submit the following:

1. Cover letter (One page, single-spaced, 8½ x 11-sized paper, with 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font) - Include
a. Contact Information
i. Name
ii. Address
iii. Phone Number
iv. Email
b. Brief history of previous publications and/or public readings/performances
c. Statement of commitment to CantoMundo vision
d. What you would like to gain from the CantoMundo retreat
2. Sample of writing (Five pages maximum, single-spaced, 8½ x 11-sized paper, with 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font)

Criteria for Craft Workshop Selection
The criteria are:
a. a significant record of publishing in poetry (book-length manuscript, chapbook, major journals, etc.) and/or broad and accomplished experience in the performance of original poetry. Self-published work is excluded.
b. Self-identify as Latina/o

Lecture Presentation
If you are interested in presenting a lecture on or about Latina/o poetry or a poet’s work, please submit the following:
1. Cover letter (One page, single-spaced, 8½ x 11-sized paper, with 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font)- Include
a. Contact Information
i. Name
ii. Address
iii. Phone Number
iv. Email
b. Brief history of previous lectures, publications and/or public readings/performances
c. Statement of commitment to CantoMundo vision
d. What you would like to gain from the CantoMundo retreat
2. Abstract for lecture (One page, single-spaced, 8½ x 11-sized paper, with 1-inch margins, 12-12-point Times New Roman font)

Criteria for Lecture Selection
The criteria are:
1. coherence, clarity, salience, and originality of lecture topic;
2. experience in presenting lectures and/or readings; and
3. self-identify as Latina/o.

The individual(s) who are chosen to present a craft lecture will be allowed to audit the craft workshop.

Formatting Directions for Applications
WordDocs only
Letter-sized paper (8½ x 11), with 1-inch margins
12-point font, Times New Roman

Email the application packet (Cover Letter and Writing Sample and/or Abstract)
as a WordDoc attachment to:
Celeste Guzman Mendoza
ay_sisi@hotmail.com

Please put CANTOMUNDO APPLICATION in the heading

or mail your packet
(Cover Letter and Writing Sample and/or Abstract) to:
Deborah Paredez
Associate Director
Center for Mexican American Studies
1 University Station F9200 WMB 5.102
Austin, Texas 78712

All applications must be received by 5 p.m. CST, Friday, March 19, 2010

i was there

Of course the event didn’t start on time, but at last Rich stepped up to the podium, offered a welcome and made his opening remarks. The auditorium was packed—people lined up against the walls. I don’t remember who went first but I do remember the feeling of poets virtually racing to the podium one after another to read their work. The words poured out—angry, wistful, wild, joyous, playful, spiritual, sexy—no two alike. It was a full and glorious body of work, an experience of palabra to be repeated but never exactly replicated. A kind of “Where you there?” event.

elena minor