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Showing posts from April, 2016

BOOK OF THE MONTH: OCELOCIHUATL BY XANATH CARAZA

Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toe nails twinkle, makes you want to do this or that or nothing, makes you know that you are alone in the unknown world, that your bliss and suffering is forever shared and forever all your own. ― Dylan Thomas Poetry is an act of peace.  ― Pablo Neruda Mouthfeel Press April is Poetry Month and The Latina Book Club is celebrating with exciting and powerful poets that make us sit up and read and imagine.  Hence, we have chosen a book of the month that makes us do all that.   OCELOCIHUATL by Xánath Caraza brings a lump to your throat, a tear to your eye and a sigh to your heart.  It’s a beautiful, haunting bilingual poetry collection written in vibrant imagery about a Jaguar woman – a spirit guide, if you will –  that prowls and growls at the land, at society, at herself.  OcelocĂ­huatl  straddles two worlds and struggles to unite those worlds and make a place for herself.  But vi

REVIEW: LATINA AUTHORS & THEIR MUSES, EDITED BY MAYRA CALVANI

      The artist must possess the courageous soul…The brave soul. The soul that dares and defies. – from THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin LATINA AUTHORS & THEIR MUSES is a celebration of creativity, the writer’s life, the passionate quest for spiritual and artistic freedom. – Mayra Calvani   Twilight Times Books  I admit it.  I like to write in my books.  I add notes on the margins.  I underline, and if the quote is too long I fold the page for future reference.  Some of my family and friends cringe when I do, but I love it.  It’s a very definite way of knowing which books are “keepers” and LATINA AUTHORS & THEIR MUSES is a Keeper! This book is a treasure trove of information.  It’s like a literary marketplace and who’s who rolled into one.  Mayra Calvani is to be commended for her hard work and vision in bringing 40 of everyone’s favorite Latina authors together for this marvelous collection; see list of participating authors at the end.   You have establ