Guest Poets

Carlos Francisco Monge - Poet and Essayist (PUC, 2008)

Costa Rican poet, essayist, and professor; born in 1951, Carlos Francisco Monge first majored in Linguistics and Literature at the University of Costa Rica, and later completed his doctorate in Spanish Literature at the University of Madrid, Spain. He has been a professor at the National University of Costa Rica for over 30 years, where he has taught courses of Spanish and Latin American literature. He has published many articles and studies on his specialty in journals in Costa Rica and other countries (Spain, United States, Canada and South America), and is a Corresponding Fellow from Costa Rica of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.
His literary activity, as a poet, began in the early 1970s. He was a member of a literary group which published Manifiesto trascendentalista (1977), with Laureano Albán, Julieta Dobles and Ronald Bonilla.

Milagros Terán - Poet and Narrator (PUC, 2007)

Born in León, Nicaragua in August 1962, Milagros currently resides in the Washington DC area. She studied International Relations,
and French at the University of Laval at Quebec, Canada (1987); received a BA in Languages and Literatures from George Mason University,
Virginia (1996) and a Master’s Degree in Latin American Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park (1998).
She has published in various literary magazines and cultural supplements in Nicaragua, other Latin American countries and in the United States.
She has made presentations in Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. Her first book of poems, Las luces en la sien (Managua: Vanguardia, 1993) -with prologue by Gioconda Belli-, incorporated her into the panorama of Nicaraguan letters assertively articulating a markedly independent poetic and political vision.

She has worked as a translator, diplomat and official for various international agencies, including The World Bank, as well as a scholar and professor of Spanish and Hispanic Literatures in the United States and Zimbabwe.

Poetry:

Las Luces en la Sien (1993); Plaza de los Comunes (2001)

Fiction:

El Diario de Una Poeta (1994)

Christian Santos (PUC, 2006)

 Born on January 6, 1941, in Managua, Christian was educated under a family of writers and painters (grandfather was the founder and owner of the Daily of the West Newspaper.   An uncle, Anthony Bermudez, was doubly poet in Guatemala.   Another uncle, Anthony Lopez, writer and cartoonist is founder and director of the recognized magazine: The Weekly Comic). Nevertheless, Christian's path towards artistic and professional expression has been long and challenging because at the beginning of her course the gender stereotypes closed her way.

Even though at four years of age she was already composing poems and would recite them to whoever wished to hear her, then her literary vocation shattered.   At a very young age she moved to the United States with the intention of pursuing her studies but she married a Nicaraguan and she completely devoted herself to her six children.   When her family returned to Nicaragua, Christian's interest in her poetry reappeared but she had to confront marital conflicts.   She would secretly take her poems to the Literary Press, in whose pages she made her debut in the 70s.

Like many artists from that period, Christian Santos felt profoundly identified among the struggle of the National Liberation of Sandinista Movement (NLSM) against the regimen of Anastasio Somoza, and his writers from that time reflect their political commitment.   In 1977, her poem "His preciously blood" appeared on the front page of the Red Daily (Harvard University in the United States).

From 1983, she begins working with the Association of Nicaraguan Women (AONW), and after a decade she successfully acted as the Director-editor of the magazines We Are, and The Ones. During those years, Christian lived a rude but definite awakening of her consciousness of gender: "I began to perceive that there was inequality of genders at the touch of life, at reading the diaries.   And if I wrote and published, that caused me problems in my home.   I saw that I could not continue on a role of infinite submission and began to find a way of fulfilling my dreams.   In 1985, I got divorced, I went back to school, to publishing, and since then I have not stopped".  

In 1985, she was appointed Delegate Minister of Cultural Ministry of the Río San Juan Department, beautiful and jungle like.   She remained in charge until 1990. She graduated as a journalist from the Central American University (CAU) in Managua.   Between 1996 and 1998 she graduated in journalism from Florida International University (FIU). Between 1995 and 1999 she worked as an Editor-director for the United magazine.   A publication of regional coverage promoted by the Central American Coordinator of Laborers (CENTRALCO).   She also managed the Supporters' magazine, (War disabled) (1997-1999). In 1997, she published the novel The Tiger Near the River, which was well welcomed by its criticism.   In 2004, this novel was published in its second edition, with a study guide in its final pages.  In 1998, her collection of poems Agualuna, in which she definitely defined herself as a poet with cadence and proper themes.   According to the established rules, Christian is already the age for being only "the old witch" or "a very good and holy old lady".   However, the poet challenged the sexism rules with her flourishing body and erotic poetry: One restrained celebration offered in a clear, erotic, and mystic language". In 2001, her collection of poems Love's Mark saw the light.   Where a mature love lives and revives the full moon's phrases, crescent, plenty, waning-in search of a plentitude that will not be based on the loss of her own being, of her woman's autonomy.

According to Teresa Anta San Pedro, Spanish philologist situated in the United States, "Santos' poetry is a physical poetry that is felt, it is touched, it is cried and it is enjoyed in the freshness of a new day.   It is a poetry that floods our being of Universe". Another outstanding aspect of Christian Santos' activity is her constant task of promoting national literature-especially the one written by women-and of constructing new areas for the Nicaraguan artists.   She has staked out for her contribution to the local area known as PEN International from which she was the vice president.   Santos is a creator and cofounder of the Nicaraguan Association of Writers (NIAOW).   The same about the Nica-Central American NIAOW literary magazine settled in 2000.

She has attended numerous literary events, among these the 49 th World Congress of Americanists in Quito, Ecuador (1997), the Retreat of Female Writers "Femina Ludens" in the Latin-American Institute, Viena (1998), the Latin-American Retreat of Narrator Women in Lima, Perú (1999) and the Retreat of Writers from PEN International in Nuremberg (2000). In 2000, she received the Prize "Hermann Kesten" in Nuremberg, Germany for being a high quality writer and journalist.

Christian Santos is a founder and ex vice president of the Nicaraguan Area known as PEN International, founder and ex General Secretary of the Nicaraguan Association of Writers (NIAOW) and a member of the Board of Honor of the Nicaraguan Journalists Union (NJU), member of the Nicaraguan Center of Writers (NCW) and of the Nicaraguan Forum of Culture.

Her poems have been included in nine national and international anthologies.   Her book Agualuna was translated into English by the professor David Miller from the Association of Writers USA.   And part of her literary production has been translated into English, Italian, Bulgarian, and German.

Bibliography:

• The Tiger Near the River (novel). Managua, Ministry of Culture. Zorrillo Editorial, 1996. Second edition 2004, Editorial Cultural Distribution.
• Agualuna (poetry). Managua, Ministry of Culture, Cristisa Editorial, 1998.
• Track of Love (poetry). Managua, Nicaraguan Center of Writers-NORAD, CIRA Editorial, 2001.
• Chant of my Songs (poetry). Unpublished.
• Woman, Religion, and Sexuality, a Historic Entwine (essay). Unpublished.
• United, Power and Environments (essay). Unpublished.
• Bamboo (children's poetry). Unpublished.
• Origins of Salt (poetry). Impresiones y Troqueles, October 2005.

Recognitions from 2000 to 2004:

• The Nicaraguan Center of Writers (NCW)-Honors diploma and plaque.
• Nicaraguan Association of Writers (NAW): Tribute to her 60 years published in newspapers and magazines.
• Women Radio: Vignette which broadcasts in recognition of her art work in this radio station.
• Group Emigdio Suarez & Associates in tribute to her 25 years to this foundation awards: Honors diploma and plaque.
• Nicaraguan Union of Journalists: Honors diploma, plaque, and named Member of the Honorary Board of this journalists' group.

Version Translated by Guillermina Cornejo

Manlio Argueta (PUC, 2005)

Manlio Argueta was born in San Miguel, El Salvador, in 1935.  Manlio enrolled in law school in San Salvador where he met other students who shared his growing distrust of the authoritarian political system of his country, his developing social consciousness, and his dreams for justice. In 1956 they formed the Círculo Literario Universitario (University Literary Circle), a group of writer-activists committed to revolution in poetry and in politics. Members included his friend, the great poet Roque Dalton, Otto René Castillo, Roberto Cea, Italo López Vallecillos, and Roberto Armijo, among many others. This group is now known as El Salvador's "Generación Comprometida," the Committed or Engaged Generation, for their literary renovation, combining aesthetic experimentation with political and social ethics. Among the many awards he has received are the prize from the Consejo Universitario Centroamericano for El valle de las hamacas, the Casa de las Américas prize for Caperucita en la zona roja, and the 1980 National Prize for the Novel from UCA Editores (University of Central America) for Un día en la vida. Most importantly, his own country honored Manlio with an official Homenaje (homage ceremony) in the spring of 2000 as El Salvador's most distinguished living writer. Un día, which was once banned, is now required reading in Salvadoran public schools. His work is some of the most widely translated beyond the borders of El Salvador, an honor he shares only with Dalton, Claribel Alegría, and Mario Bencastro. Modern Library ranked Un día en la vida among the top five novels written in Latin America in the twentieth century.

Julieta Dobles Izaguirre (PUC, 2004)

Julieta Dobles Izaguirre was born in San José, Costa Rica.  She received a Bachelors Degree in Biology from the Universidad de Costa Rica (1965), completed courses in Philology and Linguistics (1969-1971), and received a Masters Degree in Hispanic Philology with emphasis in Hispanic Literature from Stony Brook, The State University of New York (1986).   She has served as a professor in various academic institutions, and has also served as a Costa Rican diplomat in Madrid, Jerusalem, at the United Nations, and with UNESCO in Paris.  She is the author of several books and articles, including Amar en Jerusalén (1992), Una viajera demasiado azul (1993), Poemeas para arrepentidos (2003), and Casas de la memoria (2003).  She has received numerous literary awards and currently serves as an Elected Member of the Academia Costarricense de la Lengua.

Roberto Sosa (PUC, 2003)

Roberto Sosa was born in Yoro, Honduras in 1930. Expressing the oppression and poverty of his country, his poetry has been both banned and highly honored. Un mundo para todos dividido received the Casa de las Americas Award in Havana in 1971 after its publication was stopped in Honduras for political reasons. Despite the banning, the students and artists of Tegucigalpa recite Sosa’s verses regularly in cafés and nightclubs throughout the capital. Among his works are the following: Muros, Mar interior, Los pobres, winner of the Adonais Award in Madrid in 1968, Un mundo para todos divididos, Obra completa, Diálogo de sombras, Prosa armada, El llanto de las cosas, Máscara suelta y Antología personal.

Eleodoro J. Febres (PUC, 2002)

Eleodoro J. Febres Arias was born in Pampacolca, Perú. Dr. Febres pursued his primary and secondary studies at Pampacolca and Arequipa. He then studied philosophy and theology at Arequipa, Lima, and in the United States. From the University of Notre Dame, he obtained his M.A.; from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, his doctorate, a degree granted in cooperation among five universities: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and University of Massachusetts. Now he is retired from teaching at Indiana University, South Bend. Centro de Artes Gráficas, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa, Perú published his first book of poetry, titled Voces y Gritos del Corazón, in 1999. Gritos Heráldicos de Sobrevivencia is his second poetry book. He has written on a variety of authors and subjects: Diego de San Pedro, La vida de Lazarrillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades, José María Arguedas, Miguel de Unamuno, Federico García Lorca, Miguel Delibes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. His articles has been published in Spain, the United States, Puerto Rico, and Perú in referred journals such as Anales Cervantinos, La Torre, Hispanófila, Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Sin Nombre, Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, and Letras. He has also published as author, co-editor and as contributing author in the following books: Superestructuras de las “Novelas Ejemplares” de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Lima, Perú: Editorial San Marcos), 1998; Encuentros con el Otro: Textos e Intertextos (New Jersey: Montclair State University Press), co-editor, 1994; Novela Española Contemporánea: Cela, Delibes, Romero y Hernández (Madrid: Sociedad General Española de Librería, S.A.), contributing author, 1978; “Cervantes, Novelista Ejemplar” (doctoral dissertation), 1974. Dr. Febres has participated in recitals and literary workshops, and as an invited professor he has given lectures at universities in the United States and at several Peruvian institutions: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Institute Raúl Porras Barrenechea, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, and Instituto Superior Pedro P. Díaz. In honor of his constant educational work, publications and remarkable contributions to the enrichment of world culture, Dr. Febres has received honorary diplomas and citations. In addition, he has been invited to be a member of ANEA (Asociación de Escritores y Artistas), a member of the Cultural Social Club "Pampacolca", and of the P.E.N. (Poesía, Ensayo, Narrativa) Club of Perú. He has been praised in national newspaper such as “El Comercio”, “El Peruano”, and “El Pueblo”, and in 1999 he received the Gold Medal of Arequipa and was honored with the prestigious titled of “Ambassador of Letters” by the Provincial Municipality of Arequipa.

Armando Romero (PUC/IUN, 2001/2000)

Dr. Armando Romero, poet, narrator and critic was born in 1944 in Cali, Colombia, S.A. During his youth he was part of the Vanguard Movement, El Nadaísmo. After leaving Colombia in 1967, he lived in Mexico and Venezuela. Years later, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Colombian poetry. He has published extensively in Latin America and Spain. His poems and short stories have been translated into English, Portuguese, French and Greek, and they have been included in several anthologies in Colombia and other parts of Latin America. Armando Romero currently lives in Ohio where he is a Professor of Spanish at the University of Cincinnati. His published works include the following: Poetry (Los móviles del sueño, El poeta de vidrio, Del aire a la mano, Los combinaciones debidas, A rienda suelta; Short Stories (El demonio y su mano, La casa de los vespertilios, La esquina del movimiento, Una mariposa en la escalera, Lenguas de juego; Novels (Un día entre las cruces, La piel por la piel; Essays (Las palabras están en situación, El nadaísmo, Gente de pluma).

Loreina Santos Silva (PUC, 1998)

Dr. Loreina Santos Silva was born in Ciales, Puerto Rico. She received a Ph.D. from Brown University with an outstanding honorary distinction for her scholar work. Her literary essays have been published internationally. She is a member of the Academy of Arts & Sciences in Puerto Rico. Dr. Santos Silva has taught at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, for thirty years. She has published fifteen books.

Marcos McPeek Villatoro (IUN, 1997)

Marcos McPeek Villatoro is the author of numerous stories, in English and Spanish that have been published in literary magazines such as brownbag press, Crossworlds and Latino Stuff Review. His articles have appeared in magazines as diverse as National Catholic Reporter, Southern Exposure and American Iron. He is the recipient of the 1995 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for this writing on pop music.

Alba Ambert (PUC, 1996)

Alba Ambert was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew in New York. She has lived in Athens, Greece and now resides in England where she is a Writer in Residence at Richmond College, The American University in London. For years Alba Ambert juggled careers as bilingual educator, fiction writer and poet. She has a B.A. in philosophy from Universidad de Puerto Rico, and is trained as a psycholinguist with masters and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. Author of many articles and books on bilingualism, she has been a bilingual teacher and program administrator, and director of a graduate degree program at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Ambert has published four poetry collections: The Mirror is Always There (Logotechni, 1992), Habito tu nombre (Ediciones Laurel, 1994), The Fifth Sun (Cactus, 1989) and Gotas sobre el columpio (Editorial Folrián, 1981), and The Oral History, Every Greek Has a Story (Athens College Press, 1992). Her novel, A perfect Silence (Arte Público Press, 1995) won the 1996 Carey McWilliams Award.

Gloria Vando (IUN, 1995)

Gloria Vando's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Kenyon Review, Seattle Review, Rampike (Toronto), Stiletto, Poets On, New Letters, Uncle, Movieworks Anthology, Kansas City Out Loud II (BKMK Press), Looking for Home (Milkweed), Women of the 14th Moon (Crossing Press), The Denny Poems (1989-90), and others. She is editor of the Helicon Nine Reader, an anthology featuring the best of Helicon Nine; a magazine she founded and edited from 1979-1989, and currently publishes nine editions. She won the 1991 Billee Murray Denny Poetry Prize, and was a finalist in the Poetry Society of America's 1990 Alice Fay Di Castagnola Contest. Previous awards include a CCLM Editors Grant, The 1991 (Kansas) Governor's Arts Award, a Kansas Arts Commission Fellowship in poetry, and a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She has served on the literature panels of the national endowment for the arts and the Kansas arts commission. She is a poet-in-the schools in Kansas and Missouri, and is a member of the Kansas Governor's Council on the Arts. a Puerto Rican born in New York City (Newyorican), she now lives in a suburb of Kansas City with writer and conservationist Bill Hickcok.

David Hernández (PUC, 1994)

David Hernández has been writing, reciting and teaching poetry for 27 years. He has published two books of poetry and written and edited numerous anthologies. He has received grants and recognition from the Illinois Arts Council, Chicago’s Office of Fine Arts, and the National Council of Christians and Jews, among others. In 1972, he founded "Street Sounds" which has combined poetry with folk, jazz and Latin musical elements. David Hernández and "Street Sounds" have produced albums, tapes, and have performed nationwide. In 1987, Hernández was commissioned to write a poem commemorating Chicago’s 150th Anniversary.

Tato Laviera (PUC/IUN, 1992/1991)

Tato Laviera is the quintessential Nuyorican poet. His bilingual work encompasses poetry, theater productions and education. Author of five books, including La Carreta Made a U-Turn, Enclave, American, Urban Jewels and Mainstream Ethics, author of seven plays, director of more than a dozen theater productions, including work at the prestigious New York Public Theater where he works with Joseph Papp, Tato is not aloof from his community. He works with writers in the university of the streets, with youth in Harlem's El Barrio, the Lower East Side and Brooklyn. His academic credentials include teaching at Rutgers, Bard College, Columbia University, University of California at Berkeley, Yale and many other important institutions.

Lucha Corpi (IUN, 1990)

Lucha Corpi was born in Jaltipan, Veracruz, Mexico, in 1945. Corpi received all her early education in Mexico, and when she came to the United States in 1964 with her husband, who was a student at the university of California-Berkeley, she knew not a word of English, but through classes for foreign students at the University of California, her experiences while raising child in the United States after her divorce in 1970, and her college education the same university, she became proficient enough to become a teacher and writer in her adopted language. Corpi holds both A B.A. and M.A. in Comparative Literature. Through her college education, Corpi wrote poetry, and in 1976 she published her first short collection of poems in a bilingual anthology, Fireflight: Three Latin American Poets. While Lucha Corpi had experimented with short stories earlier, her first full-length novel, Delia's Song, was listed in English in 1984. Based on her political activism at the university in early 1970's, Delia's Song is one of the very few novelistic representations in historical period that was so important in the making of the modern Chicano. Her second novel, Eulogy for a Brown Angel (1992), also takes at its background The Chicano Civil Rights Movement. She became the first Hispanic writer to win the Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award for her Eulogy for a Brown Angel.

Tino Villanueva (PUC/IUN, 1989)

Tino Villanueva is a professor at Boston University and the author of six books. Originally from San Marcos, Texas, Villanueva is a former migrant worker. His most recent book, Scene From the Movie Giant has been critically acclaimed.