May 2019 Book of the Month
Brother Bullet
by Casandra López
Published by: The University of Arizona Press
ISBN-10: 0816538522
ISBN-13: 978-0816538522
SYNOPSIS:
Speaking to both a personal and collective loss, in Brother Bullet Casandra López confronts her relationships with violence, grief, guilt, and ultimately, endurance. Revisiting the memory and lasting consequences of her brother’s murder, López traces the course of the bullet—its trajectory, impact, wreckage—in lyrical narrative poems that are haunting and raw with emotion, yet tender and alive in revelations of light.
Drawing on migratory experiences, López transports the reader to the Inland Empire, Baja California, New Mexico, and Arizona to create a frame for memory, filled with imagery, through the cyclical but changing essence of sorrow. This is paralleled with surrounding environments, our sense of belonging—on her family’s porch, or in her grandfather’s orange grove, or in the darkest desert. López’s landscapes are geographical markers and borders, connecting shared experiences and memories.
Brother Bullet tugs and pulls, drawing us into a consciousness—a story—we all bear.
BIO:
Casandra Lopez is a Chicana and California Indian (Cahuilla/Tongva/Luiseño) writer who’s received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf and Jackstraw. She’s been selected for residencies with the School of Advanced Research and Hedgebrook. Her chapbook, Where Bullet Breaks was published by the Sequoyah National Research Center and her poetry collection, Brother Bullet is forthcoming from University of Arizona. She’s a founding editor of As/Us: A Space For Women Of The World and teaches at Northwest Indian College.
Author webpage: https://casandramlopez.com/
Twitter: @casandramlopez
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcasandramlopez.com%2F&t=About%20The%20Author
The University of Arizona Press
May 2019 Conversations Book
Balamkú
by Xanath Caraza
Published by: Pandora Lobo Estepario Productions Press
ISBN-10: 1940856396
ISBN-13: 978-1940856391
SYNOPSIS:
There are a thousand registered ancient Maya city sites just in the Mexican state of Campeche (west side of the Yucatán peninsula), including the dozen visited by poet Xánath Caraza, where she composed the poems in this text. Balamkú is one of those sites, and most moving to view and experience. The ancient cities of our hemisphere, Calakmul, Balamkú, others under the “Maya” umbrella term, and many in central Mexico, are important to view and study. Xánath Caraza’s verses will provide a spiritual roadmap accompanied by fallen leaves, Mayan rocks, wind, and liquid serpents of jade carved on every one of these pages.
Hay más de mil sitios mayas antiguos registrados sólo en el estado mexicano de Campeche (el lado oeste de la Península de Yucatán), incluyendo la docena visitada por la poeta Xánath Caraza donde compuso los poemas en este texto. Balamkú es uno de esos sitios, el más conmovedor de todos para ver y experimentar. Las ciudades antiguas de nuestro hemisferio, Calakmul, Balamkú, otras bajo el término amplio “maya” y muchas en el México central son importantes para ser vistas y para ser estudiadas. Los versos de Xánath Caraza nos proveerán de un mapa de ruta espiritual acompañado de hojarasca, piedras mayas, viento y serpientes líquidas de jade grabadas en cada una de estas páginas.
BIO:
Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet, short story writer, and translator. She writes for La Bloga, The Smithsonian Latino Center, Revista Literaria Monolito, and Seattle Escribe. In 2018 for the International Latino Book Awards she received First Place for
Lágrima roja for “Best Book of Poetry in Spanish by One Author” and First Place for Sin preámbulos / Without Preamble for “Best Book of Bilingual Poetry by One Author”.
Her book of poetry Syllables of Wind / Sílabas de viento received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. Caraza was the recipient of the 2014 Beca Nebrija para Creadores, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain. She is Writer-in-Residence at Westchester Community College, New York since 2016. Her books of verse Where the Light is Violet, Black Ink, Ocelocíhuatl, Conjuro and her book of short fiction What the Tide Brings have won national and international recognition. Her other books of poetry are Balamkú, Fără preambul, Hudson, Le sillabe del vento, Noche de colibríes, Corazón pintado, and her second short story collection, Metztli. Caraza has been translated into English, Italian, Romanian, and Greek; and partially translated into Nahuatl, Portuguese, Hindi, and Turkish.
Author webpage: https://xanathcaraza.webs.com/
Twitter: xanathcaraza@xanathcaraza
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/xanath.Caraza