The
Latina Book Club is Celebrating Women’s History Month by showcasing female
authors and poets all this month.
We
thank these fearless women for joining the celebration and sharing their works
with us. Enjoy!
MARTA M. MIRANDA-STRAUB is a poet
and storyteller who has spent her life working towards equity, inclusion, and
creating systems change. Her activism has focused on advancing social and
economic justice for marginalized communities. Until the age of twelve
Marta was raised in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. In 1966 she immigrated to New Jersey.
“As a refugee family from Cuba,” Marta said, “we were resettled by Catholic
Charities in West New York, New Jersey, with a sponsor family in September
1966. We left our extended family, photo albums, toys, worldly belongings,
language, culture, flag, and land on the island.” She now lives and works in
Louisville, Kentucky, and affectionately describes herself as a Cubalachian— a
combination of Cuban and Appalachian. When she arrived in Kentucky and saw the
beauty of the “old and worn mountains” she “knew that [she] could be an
American, a Cuban-American, as long as [she] could live in Kentucky.”
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
It's
Women's History Month. What three women inspire you most of all? Any female
authors?
MMS: Audrey Lorde, Alice Walker and Isabel
Allende.
Do
you think a woman can be President of the U.S.?
MMS:
Yes, and thank you for this question. I think a woman can and should be
President of the U.S. Electing a woman is well overdue. Many other countries
have excellent female presidents and history has shown women can and should be
given the opportunity to lead their countries.
What
do the skeletons signify in your title? In your poetry?
MMS:
The skeletons in CRADLED BY SKELETONS / MECIDA POR ESQUELETOS represent
the people in my life who had the same circumstances as me but died or were
killed. My twin sister died at birth. Many refugees seeking asylum died on
their journey to the U.S. Also, I grew up in a violent ghetto in New Jersey
upon arriving in the U.S. Many did not live to make it out of that ghetto due
to violence, drug use, or other circumstances. Personally, I am recovering (for
thirty-eight years now) from drugs. All of these people are the skeletons in my
title, in my work. They cradle me and I carry them in my DNA. They hold me up
to give voice to their experience.
LATEST
WORK
 |
| Shadelandhouse Modern Press |
CRADLED
BY SKELETONS: A Life in Poems and Essays
/ MECIDA POR ESQUELETOS: Una Vida en Poemas
y Ensayos (book includes complete Spanish translation)
This memoir relates Marta
Miranda-Straub’s experience of trauma, resilience, and transformation. The book
also portrays how her life’s work as a social worker, educator, leader,
activist, advocate, and community organizer has been fueled by discernment, resistance,
and transformation of individual, institutional, and societal systems of power.
Miranda-Straub has a keen sense of awareness and she questions injustices with
intention, compassion, humility, and humor. There is a shared connection with
both the victim and the perpetrator in her writings that exalts the grit and
grace of humanity.
WE WANT MORE
You can read more about this book
and see a sample of inside pages, at this link: https://smpbooks.com/product/cradled-by-skeletons/
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