Looking Back at 20 Years of Letras Latinas: Carmen Calatayud

What a joy it was to kick off Letras Latinas’ 20th anniversary year in DC at a reading and discussion with Eduardo C. Corral in January 2024. But another highlight of this year was representing Letras Latinas at the Dodge Poetry Festival in October for a reading and discussion with Diannely Antigua, Blas Falconer and Naomi Ortiz. We were surprised to learn that busloads of high school students from in and around Newark were attending the festival and were a large part of our audience. Both Diannely and I read poems about mental health, and during the Q&A, as well as after the reading, eager high school students asked us about how they could write about these vulnerable topics. It was clear that they connected with our poetry and that they, too, longed to share poems about their own struggles. We encouraged them to speak their truth through their poetry and to keep writing. I was deeply moved that we had the opportunity, through Letras Latinas, to reach the hearts of these budding writers and help them see that they aren’t alone, that their lived experiences matter, and that their work deserves to be read and heard.    

— Carmen Calatayud