Looking Back at 20 Years of Letras Latinas: Adela Najarro
- letraslatinasblog2
- Jun 1
- 2 min read
I had the pleasure of attending the Southern California Poetry Festival at the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in November. The festival was a three-day extravaganza of readings and workshops. I’m so appreciative that Letras Latinas enabled my participation in this literary gathering of Latinx peoples.
I attended many sessions, connected with other Latinx poets, and participated on a panel celebrating Central America and the Library of America’s publication of Latino Poetry, a comprehensive anthology edited by Rigoberto González. Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Maya Chinchilla, Janel Pineda, and I read poems about the diaspora from Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
All of these nations have undergone turmoil as a result of US foreign policy. This traumatic political history fuels our diverse voices as we live and write in the US. The poems by Darrel, Maya, Janel, and myself investigate identity, displacement, family, and loss.
Letras Latinas and the Library of America anthology both encompass and support the complexity of US Latinidad. The intertwining history, both literary and political, between Latin America and the United States is a US story, but the Central American chapter is rarely revealed.
Participating in this panel allowed Darrel, Maya, Janel, and myself to share our vision and show how varied and nuanced Latina letters can be. We all have exceptional pieces detailing the effects of leaving one’s homeland and all the changes demanded by living in the US.
Being in the same room with these fellow poets was indeed a gift. William Archila was also in attendance in the audience, and we hope to get together once again at other venues to share our stories about the Central American Diaspora.
— Adela Najarro
