Festival Brings Latin Poetry to New York’s Financial District –Where Creativity Never Sleeps

Festival Brings Latin Poetry to New York’s Financial District –Where Creativity Never Sleeps
New York, October 11, 2013

Thanks to support from GFDD and FUNGLODE, the City’s financial district was revived with echoes of dulcet prose as 30 accomplished Latin Poets from the US and abroad, including the Dominican Republic, read excerpts of their work at the opening ceremony of the Latin American Poetry Festival in NYC, October 9-11.

The event, now in its second consecutive year, has become a major cultural draw in the Big Apple, as it brings together local, international and American poets from New York and beyond.

The inauguration was held at City College’s Center for Worker Education (CWE), the Festival’s primary venue, in New York’s Financial District. The evening opened with an introduction by Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of CWE/CCNY, one of the collaborating organizations. He thanked the poets, students and members of the public for their attendance. He also thanked the event’s supporters, including GFDD and FUNGLODE, without whom this event would not be possible. He said the CWE was always open to cultural activities and invited the audience to buy the poets’ books to support them and future Festivals.

The main organizers of the festival, including Carla Coreas, Carlos Aguasaco and Ana Noriega, underscored the importance of creating an event that integrates Hispanic writers in the United States with writers in Latin America. “Our challenge this year is to solidify the position of the Latin American Poetry Festival NYC within the circuit of the most important literary festivals and conferences on the continent and within the Spanish-speaking world,” said Coreas, who is the director of Urpi Editores.

Carlos Aguasaco, Colombian poet and member of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department of CCNY/CWE, said, “This festival celebrates literary creativity and Hispanic heritage of the United States.” He noted that, “Nearly 40 million people here in the US speak the language of Cervantes…in terms of population, the US is the fifth largest Spanish-speaking country in the world – surpassed only by Mexico, Spain, Colombia, and Argentina.”

Carlos Aguasaco introduced the some 30 poets, including Basilio Belliard of the Dominican Republic, who read excerpts from three of his works: La isla al aire, Peregrino and one untitled piece. Many of these poems are from his book, Piel del Aire, which was featured at the recent Dominican Book Fair at Boricua College in New York – an event that GFDD and FUNGLODE also partnered on.

Basilio participated in a host of Festival activities including readings, lectures, and roundtable discussions. As part of a discussion about the future of Latin American poetry, he said the question to reflect upon is: if poetry has a present and if it is going to have a future, it is because there are two variables of fragmentation and narration. Poets have a tendency in Latin America toward fragmentation, cut it and make it as brief as possible as opposed to the narration involved in telling a story, he explained.

“Many poets are now being more individual, whereas before they were more communal in thought. There is no longer a vanguard. Style used to be the engine of the story and now that has gone,” said the Dominican poet.

Basilio said being at the Festival was a gratifying experience and that he was thankful to organizations like GFDD for bringing him and for exposing him to other points of view and exchanges with different poets. He said it is important to highlight Dominican and Latin American poetry in international Festivals to make their point of view heard.

He was grateful for the opportunity to share his work and insights with poets, colleagues and friends from other countries. “This is a great experience as you learn and you share. Other institutions should do the same.”

About Basilio Belliard
Basilio Belliard (Moca 1966), Dominican writer, poet, editor and university professor. A prolific writer with numerous publications, Belliard received the National Poetry Prize in 2002 for his popular Sueño escrito. Viewed as one of the best poets of his day, Mr. Belliard read from his new as well as older work. Belliard recently held the post of Director of the Literary Department of the Minister of Culture.

About the Latin America Poetry Festival in New York 2013
This initiative is part of City College CWE’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. As part of the Festival, readings were held at: City College CWE, the Consulate General of El Salvador, Librería Barco de Papel, the New School, York College, and Columbia Secondary School.

www.latinpoets.org