Creative Journeys: A Book Launch for jo reyes-boitel’s chapbook mouth and Group Poetry Reading with C.L. “Rooster” Martinez, Noël Bella Merriam, and Eric Cruz

Thursday, June 17th, 6:30pm-8pm, CST via Zoom, Free & Open to the Public

Join us for a celebration of jo reyes-boitel’s chapbook, mouth, winner of the Neon Hemlock Press 2021 Chapbook Prize and hot off the press! Reyes-boitel will read from her new book along with an uber-talented line-up of San Antonio poets:  C. L. “Rooster” Martinez, Noël Bella Merriam, and Eric Cruz. A Q&A follows—on the creative life, the art of teaching, and the ways each of these poets have balanced both and sustained their artistic practice. A book giveaway of jo’s award-winning chapbook will be a part of the night!

Bios:

jo reyes-boitel is a poet, essayist, and playwright. She is also a queer, mixed-Latinx parent working in community, a former music researcher, and novice hand percussionist. Her work includes Michael + Josephine, a novel in verse (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and the chapbook mouth (Neon Hemlock, 2021). Reyes-boitel begins her MFA at UT-Rio Grande Valley this Fall.

C.L. “Rooster” Martinez is a spoken word poet and educator from San Antonio, TX. He is the author of two poetry books: A Saint for Lost Things (Alabrava Press, 2020) and As it is in Heaven (Kissing Dynamite Poetry Press, 2020). He co-edited Contra: Texas Poets Speak Out, a pro-democracy poetry anthology. Find him at clmtz.com or on Instagram at @roostmtz.

Noël Bella Merriam is a Latina artist and poet from San Antonio, TX.  Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Two Hawks Quarterly, Plainsongs, Cloud Women’s Quarterly, Oye Drum, Pecan Grove Review, Cactus Alley, San Antonio Poetry Anthology, and Boundless 2021: The Anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival. She was a finalist for the 2021 Saguaro Poetry Prize, and she spent many years working as an artist and poet in residence across Texas. 

Eric Cruz is a poet and teacher residing in San Antonio, Texas. He is the winner of the Pecan Grove Press Chapbook Contest for Through The Window (Pecan Grove Press 2002), selected by Palmer Hall. His poems have recently appeared in 8 Poems, Black Napkin Press, River River Review, Carve, and Gulf Coast. Cruz received his MFA from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson.