While much has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an event put on by the UNC Latina/o Studies Program is showing that poetry is never canceled.
The event, "poetry books in the age of corona," will take place on Wednesday at 5 p.m. virtually. It will feature three Latinx poets, among other storytellers, students, writers, artists and educators.
emilio Jesús Taiveaho Peláez, a doctoral student, José Felipe Alvergue, the author of several poetry collections including "scenery: a lyric," and Orvokki Crosby, the curator of The Concern Newsstand, a zine and book store based out of Chapel Hill, will all speak at the event.
"With a shared concern for language, this momentary meeting of three transnational voices hopes to serve as a plea for the formative and transformative power of the printed word," the event website read.
The conversation will focus around the publishing of both authors’ new books: "landskips" by Peláez and "scenery: a lyric" by Alvergue.
Peláez said the poetry book includes various multimedia elements, and discusses national identity and its effects on a person’s own individual identity.
“This conversation will explore the printed book as the site of a re-enchantment with both language and the world, emphasizing how poetry might contribute towards building a counter-narrative to the capitalistic frameworks of belonging and national identity,” Peláez said. “Together they ask: why read books of poetry in the age of corona?”
Peláez said the book uses both words and images to explore the modern United States.
“Bound by a commitment to the printed word and the transformative power of language, these books explore contemporary American Landscapes, probing the relationship between history, vision, lyric poetry and photography,” Peláez said.
