Navigating Craft and the Writing Life in 2021 with Reginald Gibbons, Urayoán Noel and Jasminne Mendez

Join this line-up of groundbreaking authors to hear from their recent work and enjoy a conversation on how they are navigating questions of identity, voice, form, and more, while making sure their stories flourish and have a place at the literary table in these complex, fraught times. How do their craft decisions infuse how they are creating their voices on the page? How are they initiating important conversations, asking pivotal questions, and renegotiating what kinds of stories can be heard? An audience Q&A will be a part of this event. Kick-off your weekend with this rich literary exchange and conversation.

Reginald Gibbons is the author of more than half a dozen collections of poetry, including Sparrow: New and Selected Poems (1997), winner of the Balcones Poetry Prize, Creatures of a Day (2008), a finalist for the National Book Award, Last Lake (2016), and his forthcoming Renditions (Four Way Books 2021). The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Gibbons was the editor of TriQuarterly magazine from 1981 to 1997, during which time he co-founded and edited TriQuarterly Books. He has also been a columnist for The American Poetry Review. A prolific author in multiple genres, Gibbons has published short stories and critical essays as well as translations of Spanish and Mexican poetry and ancient Greek tragedy. His first novel, Sweetbitter (1994), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. He is the author of a work of poetics, How Poems Think (2015), and a collection of short stories, An Orchard in the Street: Stories (2017). Gibbons has taught at Princeton University, Northwestern University, and Warren Wilson College.

Jasminne Mendez is a poet, playwright, educator and award-winning author. Mendez has had poetry and essays published by or forthcoming in The New England Review, Crab Creek Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, and others. She is the author of two poetry/prose collections Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award, and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry(Arte Pubíico Press, 2018). Her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas will be released in 2021 (Arte Publíco Press). Her first full-length poetry book Machete will be released in 2022 (Noemi Press). She is an MFA graduate of the Creative Writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.

Urayoán Noel is the author of In Visible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam (University of Iowa Press) and eight books of poetry, including Buzzing Hemisphere/Rumor Hemisférico and Transversal, both with the University of Arizona Press. As a translator of Latin American poetry, he has been a finalist for the National Translation Award and the Best Translated Book Award. His international performances include Poesiefestival Berlin, Barcelona Poesia, and the Toronto Biennial of Art, and his work has been selected for exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, and Taller Boricua. Originally from Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, Noel lives in the Bronx and teaches at New York University. Visit Urayoán at urayoannoel.com.