Label Me Latina/o Fall 2015 Volume 5
Filed under: Fall
Academic Essay
By James M Cochran
James M. Cochran is a doctoral student in the Department of English at Baylor University. His research interests are twentieth-century and contemporary American literature.
By Rasha Al Shalabi
Rasha Al Shalabi is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Postcolonial Literature at the University of Essex. Her thesis, from which this article has been extracted, concerns the negotiation of identity in the writings of four contemporary Dominican-American authors. She has presented at many national and international conferences.
Creative Nonfiction:
By Antonio Tovar
Born in Texas and raised in Mexico City, Antonio Tovar has lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Madrid, Granada, Stuttgart and Berlin, and has repeatedly travelled long periods of time through Europe, the US and Mexico. Antonio is a self-taught painter, writer and photographer. He has participated in a large number of exhibits, both collective and personal, in the US and Europe. A number of his most important projects are part of the collections of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany. He lives between San Francisco, California and New York. He periodically collaborates in the magazine El Replicante as a photographer and writer. His short story “Mundos paralelos” (Parallel Worlds) was published in Fall 2014 in the ejournal LabelMe Latino/a and is part of a book (work in progress) entitled “Vivir en una isla” (Living on an Island). http://www.blurb.com/my/storewww.antoniotovarart.com
Short Story
By Scott Duncan
Scott Russell Duncan is a lingerer and a lurker that gets called “Freak-magnet” by friends who don’t understand it means them, too. Scott has seen a president eat enchiladas, escaped being held hostage by nuns, fled Mills College with an MFA, and made his lair in Oakland. Scott’s ancestors are Californio, Hispano, and Texian, so he’s half white guy and Mexican. His recently completed novel is The Ramona Diary of SRD, a fictional travel diary reclaiming the mythology of Chicano California, which has much to do with a 19th century book named Ramona. His website is scottrussellduncan.com
By Carlos Pelay
Cuban born, New-Orleans raised, Carlos E. Pelay now makes his home in Charlotte, NC where he works, writes, and pursues photography but still dreams of New Orleans – and sometimes of Cuba. Carlos’ poetry has appeared in Poetry Nook magazine and his photography has been featured in moonShine review (https://moonshinereview.wordpress.com/) and Kakalak 2014.
Poetry
By Manuel Adrián López
Manuel Adrián López nació en Morón, Cuba (1969). Poeta y narrador bilingüe, su obra ha sido publicada en varias revistas literarias de España, Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica. Tiene publicado los libros: Yo, el arquero aquel (Poesía. Editorial Velámenes, 2011), Room at the Top (Cuentos en inglés. Eriginal Books, 2013), Los poetas nunca pecan demasiado (Poesía. Editorial Betania, 2013. Medalla de Oro en los Florida Book Awards 2013), El barro se subleva (Cuentos. Ediciones Baquiana, 2014) y Temporada para suicidios (Cuentos. Eriginal Books, 2015). Su poesía aparece en las antologías: La luna en verso (Ediciones El Torno Gráfico, 2013) y Todo Parecía (Ediciones La Mirada, 2015). Entre otros eventos literarios, ha participado del Miami Book Fair International, XXXV Feria Internacional del Libro del Palacio de Minería en Ciudad de México, IV Festival Atlántico de Poesía de Canarias al Mundo en Gran Canaria, España y V Festival de Poesía de Lima en Perú.
By Dinapiera Di Donato
Dinapiera Di Donato was born in Venezuela. She earned a B.A., an M.A. and a DEA in Languages, Literature et Civilizations Des Pays D’expresion Espagnole from Université de Paris VIII in Paris. She also attended The Graduate Center (CUNY) in New York where she taught Spanish and French Languages. She was a Full Professor at the Universidad de Oriente, in Venezuela. She is a specialist in 20th century Latin American Literature. Her research and teaching interests include Creative Writing and Women Writers. Since 1999, she has lived in the USA. She won the Octavio Paz Poetry Prize 2012 as well as some literary prizes in Venezuela which include the narrative award Alfredo Armas Alfonso 1994, the international narrative prize X Bienal Literaria Ramos Sucre 1990, the poetry award Bienal Tomás Alfaro Calatrava 1996, the narrative prize Bienal Daniel Mendoza del Ateneo de Calabozo 1990 and the Mención de Honor Concurso de Cuentos del Diario El Nacional 2000, among others. She is the author of Contar Aristeguieta (USA, Sudaquia, 2013), Colaterales/Collateral (USA, Akashic Books, 2013), La Sorda (Venezuela, ICUM, 2011), Desventuras del Ocio: Libro de Rachid (Venezuela,FEES, 1996), La Sonrisa de Bernardo Atxaga (Venezuela, Predios,1995), and Noche con Nieve y Amantes (Venezuela, Fundarte, 1991). In 2011, she received a grant from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance Center for completing and editing a book of short stories La sortija de Emilia Ibarra.
By María Luisa Arroyo
Multilingual Puerto Rican poet and educator María Luisa Arroyo is the author of Gathering Words: Recogiendo Palabras (Bilingual Press, 2008). A 2004 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in poetry and 2014 Inaugural Poet Laureate of Springfield (MA), she has poems published or forthcoming in CALYX: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, WomenArts Quarterly Journal and The Más Tequila Review. Educated at Colby (BA), Tufts (MA) and Harvard (ABD) in German language and literature, María Luisa also earned an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Pine Manor College (MA) in July 2015.
By Marilyn Márquez
Marilyn Márquez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but has lived in the US for thirteen years. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the Solstice MFA program at Pine Manor College. Her work has appeared in the following publications: Poets of the Pioneer Valley, Poetry Matters 2012, 4starstories.com, Best New Writing 2014, Common Ground Review, the anthology Calling Back the Sun and is upcoming in Cantilever. She is also Fiction/Nonfiction Editor of Common Ground Review and teaches English at Western New England University.
How to Watch Your Daughter Grow
By Elidio La Torre Lagares
Elidio La Torre Lagares is a novelist and poet. He teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. His works of fiction, September (stories) and Grace (novel), have been awarded by the Pen Club International- Puerto Rico Chapter. He won the Julia de Burgos National Poetry Award in 2008 with Ensayo del vuelo (Rehearsing flight). He is currently part of the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas- El Paso.
By Kurma Murrain
Kurma Murrain graduated from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and is a published Colombian-American poet. Her works include the poetry books Esta Soy (1998), In the Prism of Your Soul (Xlibris, 2014) and various other literary works. She also coauthored and translated the poetic tale The Fragrance of Water (Main Street Rag, 2014.) Her poetry has appeared in international publications and online magazines such as El Tiempo, Que Pasa Mi Gente, La Noticia, Label Me Latina/o, and Iodine Poetry Journal. In addition, she has translated books from English to Spanish that include Life in the Shadow of the Swastika by Frieda Roos-Van Hessen and Honoring God with my Life by Miriam Nadler. Winner of several poetry contests in her native Colombia and the United States, Kurma is a founding member of the poetry groups ArteSanos de la Palabra and VozEs in Charlotte, NC. She has also volunteered with programs like ArtSi, Gil Project (Flag of Hope) and other arts education initiatives. For more information about Kurma or scheduling a poetry reading, visit www.facebook.com/KurmaMurrain or www.twitter.com/Kurma2011. Her website is Kurmamurrain.wordpress.com
Rojo: color de vida o muerte aproximando /Red, color of life or death approaching
By Teresa Villamarín
Teresa Villamarín was born in Bogotá, Colombia and came to the US with her family in the late 1960s. She earned a BFA in Painting and Engraving at Hunter College, an M.A in Community Education at Appalachian State University and an M.A. in Latin American Literature, at Winthrop University. She has traveled extensively. Since living in North Carolina, she has been quite involved in the Charlotte community teaching Spanish and working in other non-profit organizations.
