Between the Heart & the Land - Amanecer de Mujeres - 7/14/02

An Introduction
WMG
© 2002

On Sunday, July 14, 2002, seven contributors from the award-winning anthology, "Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazon y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest" (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2001) presented their poems. Complimenting the Amanecer de Mujeres / Dawn of Women exhibition on view June 28-July 25, 2002, were the words of: (standing, from left) Elizabeth Marino, Ixtaccíhuatl, Beatriz Badikian, Jennifer Morales, Teresa Vázquez, (seated, from left) co-editors Brenda Cárdenas and Johanny Vázquez Paz.

About the book:

“Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra is a poetic and bold testament of the undeniable Latina presence in the heartland of the United States.” --Ana Castillo

The anthology "Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazon y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest" (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2001, $14.95/paper) gathers together thirty women poets of diverse Latino heritages--Mexican, Chicana, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Ecuadoran, Argentinian, Dominican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Bolivian, Costa Rican, and Spanish--who are currently living and writing in the Midwestern United States. The collection contains work in English, Spanish and an interlingual blend of the two languages.

Cárdenas and Vázquez Paz joined forces to co-edit the book after performing together in "Arte, Musica, y Letras" a celebration of Midwestern Latina artists at Indiana University in 1999. The book won a Chicago Women in Publishing first place award in 2002 for writing and editing in the non-fiction trade book category. It includes a foreword by Frances Aparicio, Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Latin American Studies Program, an introduction by the editors and cover art by Mexican-born Chicago artist Dolores Mercado.

“…While the literary voices of U.S. Puerto Rican poets and fiction writers and of their Chicano/a counterparts on the West Coast and in the Southwest have been anthologized, duly canonized and even mainstreamed by the Anglo literary market, very little is heard about Latino/a writers and poets from the Midwest… Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra encompasses a rich array of women of various national origins—Dominican, Cuban, Costa Rican, Bolivian, Salvadoran, Colombian, Argentinian, Mexican, Chicana, and Puerto Rican—, as well as of diverse socioeconomic and work experiences, sexuality, sexual identities, age and generational experiences…” --from the Foreword by Frances Aparicio, Ph.D. Latin American Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

The anthology is currently for sale at the following Chicago venues: Woman Made Gallery, Café Jumping Bean, the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum Gift Shop, Tres Americas Bookstore, Women and Children First Bookstore, Aguijon Theater, and Open Brain Books. Outside of Chicago, it is being carried by Woodland Pattern Book Center (Milwaukee, WI), Que Pasa Coffee and Books (Milwaukee, WI), Canterbury Books (Madison, WI), Self Help Graphics (Los Angelos, CA), City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA), and others. You can also order it from Small Press Distribution, 1341 Seventh Street, Berkeley, CA 94710-1409. Ph: 1-800-869-7553 or 510-524-1668, Fax: 510-524-0852.