Dr. Ben Olguin has written refereed articles in journals, anthologies, editorial review publications, and more, as well as the co-translated Cantos de Adolescencia/Songs of Youth by Américo Paredes and My Weapon is My Pen: raúlrsalinas’ Selected Writings from the Jail Machine (1963-1974).  Dr. Olguin currently works with Writers in Communities and Wood Middle School.

Dr. Olguin’s most recent publication is La Pinta: Chicana/o Prisoner Literature, Culture, and Politics (University of Texas Press, 2010).  He has several projects under review including the poetry collection Red Leather Gloves, which won First Runner Up 2007 Kent State University Wick Poetry Center Manuscript Prize; Finalist, 2007 & 2008 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Manuscript Prize; Finalist, 2008 May Swenson Poetry Manuscript Award; Semi-Finalist, 2008 Elixir Press Poetry Awards; Semi-Finalist, 2008 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Ben Olguin received his B.A. with honors from the University of Houston, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

For more information on Dr. Olguin’s publications, visit his University of Texas at San Antonio home page.

This week Gemini Ink features poet Trey Moore who is currently working on two projects for the Writers in Communities program (WIC). Moore facilitates “Writing in the Light,” a 12-week poetry workshop at Safe Haven Homeless Shelter that will result in a chapbook in April. He’s also facilitating two creative writing workshops on Gothic literature in two Harlandale middle schools; Terrell Wells and Kingsborough. The work produced in these workshops will culminate in an online anthology.

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The summer poetry workshop, held at the 386th drug court  of the Bexar County Juvenile Probation Department, wrapped up in November with a reading at Gemini Ink. Poet Victoria Zapata-Klein facilitated the workshop. Click on the image link to read the article at mysanantonio.com

Gemini Ink’s Writers In Communities (WIC) 2009 fall projects kick off September 11 with a talk on taking control of your life through writing by Austin writer Abe Louise Young. Young will speak to an audience of 40 returning high school students working toward their General Equivalency Diploma (GED) at the East Central High School Learning Academy (ECHS). The students will participate in two Gemini Ink writing workshops. One group comprises young parents working on an anthology of food stories for their children. The second group will work on a poetry/ceramic project, incorporating text into mosaics.

Much of Young’s work focuses on oral history projects, education, and community literacy. A 2007 recipient of an MFA in writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, Young’s publications include Hip Deep: Opinion, Essays, and Visions from American Teenagers (Next Generation Press, 2005), and a DVD First in the Family: How to Make it to College (Next Generation Press and the Lumina Foundation for Education, 2006).

WIC talked with Abe Louise about bringing poetry and personal storytelling into the community.
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