In honor of UNESCO’s World Poetry Day, MOLAA, in collaboration with Flowersong Press, will host a series or virtual readings from authors Matt Sedillo, David Romero, Gabriella Gutierrez Y Muhs, Lilliana Valenzuela, and Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez. Join us as we explore essential verse from, about, and throughout the borderlands.
Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle" by academics, poets, and journalists alike. He has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, at numerous conferences and forums such as the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including the University of Cambridge, among many others. He is the winner of the 2017 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award and the 2022 Dante's Laurel.
David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Books 2020). Romero has been featured on CNN Digital and was the second poet to be featured on All Def Digital. Romero has appeared at over 75 colleges and universities in over 30 different states in the USA. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been ublished alongside poet laureates Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, Alejandro Murguia, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero has appeared in-studio numerous times on multiple programs on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles. Romero is a regular guest poet for the Ontario-Montclair School District; with performances and workshops for school assemblies and classroom visits. Romero's poetry deals with family, identity, social justice issues, and Latinx culture.
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs was a child farmworker and is the daughter of migrant farmworkers from Durango, MX. She is currently a Professor in Modern Languages and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Theiline Pigott McCone Endowed Chair in the Humanities (2018-2020) at Seattle University. She has served as former Director for The Center for The Study of Justice in Society, Seattle University. She is a polylingual poet, critic, and cultural worker. She is the author/editor of twelve books of poetry, criticism and culture, and multiple articles, encyclopedia entries, opinion pieces including a children's book Iván, Y Van, (Chatwin Press, 2023). She received her MA and PhD from Stanford University. She is first editor of Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia and Presumed Incompetent, Vol. II., (2020), and single editor of various other books on Chicana criticism, (University of Arizona Press). She also authored the published and forthcoming poetry collections: The Runaway Poems, (Finishing Line Press) A Most Improbable Life, The Plastic Book, Frontera Dogs and ¿How Many Indians Can We Be?/¿Cuántos indios podemos ser? (2022) Edited the anthology that includes 66 Chicanx/Latinx poets In Xóchitl, in Cuícatl, 1920-2020, 100 years of poetry, (2020, Madrid: Polibea), and the forthcoming women's anthology Indomitable:Indomables, coming out this year with San Diego State University Press.
Liliana Valenzuela is the author of Codex of Love: Bendita ternura (FlowerSong Books, 2020) and other works. She is also the acclaimed Spanish language translator of works by Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, Denise Chávez, and other writers. A CantoMundo and Macondo fellow, she lives and works in Austin, Texas.
Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the mainland United States. She graduated with a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and is a VONA Voices Alumna, having worked with award-winning poets Willie Perdomo and Danez Smith. Tatiana currently performs, teaches poetry workshops, and hosts events in the greater Washington DC area, having previously done so in New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic at venues including New York University, The Kennedy Center, and The Howard Theatre.