Santa Barbara Public Library and Programming Partners Receive Library of America’s Latino Poetry Grant: Places We Call Home

Santa Barbara Public Library was one of 75 organizations across the country to receive Library of America’s Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home grant to support free, public programs celebrating Latino poetry. This initiative was inspired by the forthcoming Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology (September 2024), edited by poet and principal project advisor Rigoberto González.

“Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home invites participants into a nationwide conversation about Latino poetry—its distinctive rhythms, candor, and lyricism; its profound engagement with pasts historical and mythic; its imaginative reckoning with the complexities of language, land, and identity; and its visions of a nation enriched by the stories of immigrants, exiles, refugees, and their descendants.” - Library of America Press Release.

Celebrating the publication of the Latino Poetry Reader, SBPL will host a series of programs including a reading and discussion of poems and poets in the anthology led by Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, Emma Trelles; a poetry-writing workshop led by Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, Melinda Palacio; a Poetry Walk at the Farmers Market showcasing poems written in the poetry workshop; an open mic poetry reading in celebration of National Hispanic Month where members of the community are invited to read a favorite poem that speaks to and from our Latine community; and featured event, a poetry reading and conversation by award-winning poets, Blas Falconer and Emma Trelles. Blas, whose poems are included in the Latino Poetry Anthology, will also read from his new book, Rara Avis (forthcoming Four Way Books, 2024). Through these events, SBPL and programming partners aspire to make Latino poets and their poetry accessible to various communities and audiences while sparking dialogue and engagement around Latino identity, tradition, and how Latino communities come to define home.

Programs will be held around Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15 - Oct 15), Mexican Independence Day (Sept 16), and carryover into early 2025. All events will be in-person, and with the exception of the Poetry Walk, will be held at SBPL’s Eastside Branch Library. Program dates and times will be announced soon and can be found in SBPL’s Events Calendar and Weekly Newsletter.