Poetics of Labor: Smithsonian & Letras Latinas

This weekend you'll have an opportunity to hear a couple great poets--including TWC workshop leader Naomi Ayala--at the National Museum of American History. Read on.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History & Letras Latinas, the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, presents

“Poetics of Labor: A Reading Series for Bittersweet Harvest”

Come hear a visiting poet from California and a local Washington, DC poet read selections from their work rooted in stories of migration, labor and community.

You will have FOUR opportunities to hear them:

Saturday, DECEMBER 5, 2009:
11:00 AM  &  2:15 PM

Sunday, DECEMBER 6, 2009: 
12 noon  &  3:00 PM

The readings will take place in the gallery space of the exhibit at the museum, located on the National Mall, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., in Washington, D.C.:

“Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942 – 1964”
American History Museum, 2nd Floor West


Naomi Ayala is the author of the poetry collections, This Side of Early (Curbstone Press, 2009) and Wild Animals on the Moon (Curbstone Press, 1997). A native of Puerto Rico, Ayala resides in Washington, D.C., where she serves as the Executive Director of the Capitol Letters Writing Center. Until recently, she was Senior Writer and Editor for a communications company that specializes in public health education. Ayala also teaches at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD and is the recipient of numerous awards for her work. A third book of poems is slated for publication with Bilingual Press.

John Olivares Espinoza is the author of The Date Fruit Elegies (Bilingual Press, 2008), the inaugural collection in the new poetry series, Canto Cosas. In 2009, the book was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. Espinoza was born and raised in Indio, CA to Mexican parents. He holds degrees in creative writing from UC Riverside and Arizona State University (MFA), where he spent time writing about his experience working as a gardener with his father and brother. John and his wife live in San Jose, CA, where he teaches at the National Hispanic University.

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Letras Latinas is the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame

For more information, contact: faragon@nd.edu