The CCCNY opens its celebration of Women’s History Month with an incursion into the poetry of Cuban poet Isel Rivero through her recently published book Polaris, a retrospective collection of her work spanning 60 years. Curated by Benito del Pliego, the volume brings to light the thematic and stylistic diversity of the author, reflecting Rivero’s constant exploration of the poetic language and its multiple manifestations, and as evidence of her lyricism, imagination, musicality, and beauty. The book includes a prologue by Benito del Pliego, and an extensive interview with the author by Yaiza Martínez.
The in-depth seminar will follow a conversational format, where del Pliego, Martínez, and Rivero will discuss Polaris not as a chronological anthology, but as a complex composition of the poet’s oeuvre and her capacity to confront the cruelty of life while hoping for a redemption of those she sees as its main victims: women and nature.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with the audience via Zoom, moderated by Manuel Rodríguez Ramos, director of our Literature Program.
This special literary event is part of our CreateNYC Language Access Series on Cuban History, Art, and Literature. It will be held in Spanish.
DUE TO THE COVID PANDEMIC, THIS PROGRAM WILL BE STREAMED THROUGH OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Please click on this link on the scheduled date and time:
https://youtu.be/Fph30jBXzlA
Isel Rivero (Havana, 1941) published her first book in 1959. She was co-founder of the literary group El Puente before leaving Cuba in 1960. La marcha de los hurones, published that year, is considered a seminal book in contemporary Cuban poetry. She pursued her university studies in New York, leading to a career at the United Nations. She has lived in Austria, Namibia, Honduras… finally settling in Spain in 1996. She co-founded the feminist institute Sisterhood is Global. In 2007 Relato del horizonte published an anthology of her poetry in Spanish. A bilingual edition of her work in English was published in 2010 under the title Las palabras son testigos. Polaris, edited by Benito del Pliego, is the first retrospective anthology of her work.
Benito del Pliego (Madrid, 1970) has published several poetry books, including Fábula (2012), Dietario (2015)
and Posos delectura (2019). He has also edited anthologies, such as Extracomunitarios. Nueve poetas latinoamericanos en España (2013), and more recently, the essay by Juan Larrea Luz iluminada (2019). With Andrés Fisher, he has translated into Spanish the poetry of Lew Welch, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Gertrude Stein and —into English— Antonio Gamoneda’s Blues castellano. He teaches at the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.
Yaiza Martínez (Gran Canaria, 1973) is a poet and narrator. She has published the poetry books Rumia Lilith (2002), El hogar de los animales Ada (Devenir, 2007), Agua (Idea, 2008), Siete-Los perros del cielo (Leteo, 2010) and Caoscopia (Amargord, 2012); as well as the plaquette El argumento de la realidad (2014), in the Colección Poética y Peatonal. Ejemplar Único by the Argentinian artist Gabriel Viñals. In 2016 she published La nada que parpadea (eme, Ediciones La Palma) and in 2021 a new edition of Tratado de las mariposas (Ediciones Tigres de Papel). Her poetry has been included in several anthologies, including Poetas en blanco y negro. Contemporáneos (Abada Editores, 2006), Limados (Amargord, 2016), Traslúcidas (Bartleby, 2016) and Sombras di-versas. Diecisiete poetas españolas actuales (1970-1991) (Vaso Roto, 2017).
This event is being held in celebration of Women’s History Month, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature.
With the promotional cooperation of
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