Label Me Latina/o Fall 2024 Volume 14
Filed under: Fall
Essays
La reivindicación de las raíces históricamente olvidadas en la poesía de la diáspora puertorriqueña
by Aileen Vezeau
Aileen Vezeau is a Ph.D. student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies with a concentration in Caribbean Studies at the University of Miami. Her research interests include twentieth and twenty-first century U.S. Latinx and Caribbean Literatures and Cultures with an emphasis on Puerto Rican, AfroLatinx, and Panamanian (im)migration.
The Emotions of Immigrant Identity in Cristina Henríquez’s The Book of Unknown Americans
by Adrienne Erazo
Adrienne Erazo specializes in contemporary Mexican, Central American, and Latinx literature, with an investigative focus on the representation of the border space, migration, and migrant identity. Her current research studies the symbolic dehumanization of Central American immigrants for critical impact in contemporary Latin American and Latinx literature. In both her teaching and research, she prioritizes themes of social activism and engagement with the Latin American immigrant community. These interests intersect with her role at Appalachian State University as an Assistant Professor of Spanish for the Professions, literature, and cultural studies courses.
Poetry
by Alberto Quero
A writer and musician, Alberto Quero holds a BA in Literature and Linguistics, a Masters in Venezuelan Literature and a Doctorate in Humanities from the University of Zulia in Venezuela. He is a member of the Venezuelan Association of Semiotics and has published six books of short stories, two books of poems and multiple peer-reviewed papers. He has received several literary awards. His works have appeared in collective anthologies and his songs have been recorded by Franco-Canadian artists in two CD collections.
by Beatriz F. Fernandez
Beatriz F. Fernandez is a poet and reference librarian at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. She grew up in Puerto Rico, the daughter of a Peruvian mother and Puerto Rican father and was educated in Madrid and Sevilla, Spain. She has worked in academic libraries for more than 30 years. Two things inspired this poem: she recently audited a graduate literature class called The Library of Borges and the presence of a bronze bust of Jorge Luis Borges in the library where she works.
by Adriana Prieto Quintero
Adriana Prieto Quintero nació en Venezuela. Ha estudiado Letras y Educación y ha cursado una Maestría en Literatura. Ha sido profesora de literatura y de español; también ha trabajado como escritora en diferentes proyectos educativos en su país. En el año 2021 publicó un libro titulado: “Where Are We From?” como parte de un financiamiento obtenido por la National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC). Actualmente cursa su PhD en el Departamento de Lenguas y Literaturas Romances y Árabes de la Universidad de Cincinnati, Ohio, donde también dicta clases de español.
Short Story
by Fernando Olszanski
Fernando Olszanski nació en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ha vivido alternativamente en Escocia, Ecuador, Japón y varias ciudades de los Estados Unidos. De profesión educador, también es escritor y editor. Es autor de la novela Rezos de marihuana, el poemario Parte del polvo, y los libros de cuentos El orden natural de las cosas, Rojo sobre blanco y Grandes lagos vacíos. Como editor ha compilado las antologías América Nuestra, Trasfondos, Ni Bárbaras ni Malinches, Antología de narradoras en Estadios Unidos, Féminas, y Don’t Cry For Me, América, Escritores argentinos en Estados Unidos. Actualmente dirige la editorial Ars Communis. Reside en Chicago, Estados Unidos.
by Patricia Schaefer Röder
Patricia Schaefer Röder was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She lived in Heidelberg, Germany and New York, USA, and since 2004 in Puerto Rico. Among her literary translations are the novels El mundo oculto (The World Unseen) by Shamim Sarif, and Por la ruta escarlata (The Reddening Path) and Mi dulce curiosidad (My Sweet Curiosity), both by Amanda Hale and for which Patricia won two prizes at the International Latino Book Awards (ILBA) 2019 and 2020 in the USA for best translation into Spanish. In 2011, Patricia received the First Prize in narrative from the XX Literary Contest of the Institute of Peruvian Culture in Miami, USA, with her story “Ignacio”. She has published two collections of short stories: Yara y otras historias and A la sombra del mango (second place at the ILBA 2020), as well as the minimalistic poetry book Siglema 575: poesía minimalista. Since 2015, she organizes and conducts with great success the International Contest of Siglem 575 “Di lo que quieres decir,” sponsored by Scriba NYC, which publishes an anthology of the best poems from the contest. The anthology Di lo que quieres decir won a Second Prize at the ILBA 2019. Patricia is a member of the American Translators Association, the Asociación Mexicana de Traductores Literarios, the Pen Club of Puerto Rico International and the Asociación Internacional de Poetas y Escritores Hispanos PR, among others.
by Sandro Francisco Piedrahita
Sandro Francisco Piedrahita is an American writer of Ecuadorian and Peruvian descent with a degree in Comparative Literature from Yale College (English, French and Spanish). He practiced law for years before he decided to begin to write. His wife Rosa is an Afro-Puerto Rican teacher, his son Joaquin lives in China and his daughter Sofia is studying urban planning at USC.
