Poetry Off the Shelf

Wednesday, September 15, 6:00 PM

Poetry Off the Shelf:
Valerie Martínez & Silvia Curbelo
Jazz Showcase
806 South Plymouth Court
Free admission

Valerie Martínez is a poet, teacher, translator, playwright, librettist, editor, and collaborative artist. Her first book of poetry, Absence, Luminescent (Four Way Books, 1999), won the Larry Levis Prize and a Greenwall Grant from the Academy of American Poets after being a finalist in the Walt Whitman, National Poetry Series, and Intro Award competitions. Her second book, World to World, was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2004. Martínez’s translation of the poetry of Uruguay’s Delmira Agustini (1886–1914), A Flock of Scarlet Doves, was published in special edition by Sutton Hoo Press in 2005. A book-length poem, Each and Her, is out this year, as is her collection of Santa Fe poems (written during her tenure as poet laureate of Santa Fe), And They Called It Horizon. Her poems have also appeared in various anthologies of contemporary poetry, including The Best American Poetry, New American Poets—A Breadloaf Anthology, and American Poetry—Next Generation. She is the executive director and core artist with Littleglobe, an artist-run nonprofit that collaborates with communities in creating public works of art, installation, and performance as well as producing smaller-scale artist collaborations.

Silvia Curbelo is the author of three collections of poetry: The Geography of Leaving (Silverfish Review Press), The Secret History of Water (Anhinga Press), and Ambush (Main Street Rag). Among her many laurels are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Arts Council, and the Cintas Foundation, as well as the Jessica Nobel Maxwell Memorial Poetry Prize from American Poetry Review and the James Wright Award from Mid-American Review. Her poems have been published in literary journals and more than two dozen anthologies, including The Body Electric: America’s Best Poetry, Snakebird: Thirty Years of Anhinga Poets, and The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. A native of Matanzas, Cuba, she lives in Tampa, Florida, where she is managing editor for Organica magazine.

Co-sponsored by The Poetry Foundation, the Guild Complex and Letras Latinas