THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

Poetry is like a song, like a psalm, like a prayer.  Poetry is different things to many people, and April being Poetry Month, The Latina Book Club is celebrating by featuring Latino poets all week long. There are numerous Latina female poets on which we could spend a whole month, if not more, discussing so I'll just stick with the immediate ones on my shelves  and a quick snapshot of their books.  Happy Reading! RISING, FALLING, ALL OF US by Thelma Reyna (Golden Foothills Press) From the Pope to immigrants to lovers to soldiers to celebrities to the mentally ill – all are examined and judged in Dr. Reyna’s poetry collection. The former Poet Laureate of the Altadena Library District has been published in numerous journals, and is now the proud founder and owner of the small indie press, Golden Foothills Press. Learn more about Thelma and Golden Foothills Press at www.goldenfoothillspress.com . IT CONCERNS THE MADNESS by Nancy Mercado (L...

   Poetry is the language of love, of revenge, of despair, of hope, of the people.   Here is a Top 14 List of Latino poets we should all be reading more of.  Among them we have the FIRST Spanish American Poet to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, an inaugural poet and two Poet Laureates.  I've tried to find websites for all the poets and, where there isn't any, I've posted a link where you could get more information on them.   Happy reading! --mcf TOP LATINO POETS Gabriela Mistral 1.     Gabriela Mistral (First Spanish American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature) "Song of Death," http://www.poemhunter.com/gabriela-mistral 2.     Pablo Neruda, "Cantos Ceremoniales," http://www.fundacionneruda.org/en 3.     Julia de Burgos, "Rio Grande de Loiza," http://www.juliadeburgos.org 4.     Richard Blanco (Fifth Inaugural Poet of the U.S.), "For All Of Us, One Day...

It was standing room only last night at the 15th Annual International Latino Book Awards sponsored by Latino Literacy Now and held at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City during BookExpo America.  Actor Toni Plana was the Master of Ceremonies.   There were 190 winners!  Some of the night's most notable winners included: Sandra Ramos O'Briant whose THE SANDOVAL SISTERS' SECRET OF OLD BLOOD took first place in Best Novel, Historical Fiction-English and Best First Book, Fiction. Another double winner was Carmen Tafolla's REBOZOS for Best Poetry Book-Bilingual and Best Arts Book-Bilingual. Reyna Grande's THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US won for Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book. Cecilia Velastegui's MISSING IN MACHU PICCHU won for Best Novel, Adventure or Drama. Melinda Palacio's HOW FIRE IS A STORY, WAITING won for Best Poetry Book - One Author, English. and Founder of Las Comadres Para Las Americas Nora Comstock's  COUNT ON ME: TALE...