On April 3, 2012, San Antonio became the first major city in Texas to appoint a Poet Laureate. Mayor Julián Castro formally announced nationally renowned author and poet Carmen Tafolla as the Poet Laureate in keeping with the SA2020 goal of turning San Antonio into “a brainpower community that is the liveliest city in the nation.” The initiative applies to the Arts & Culture as well as Education vision areas. The honorary position was created to promote the literary arts and literacy within the community as well as foster a greater appreciation of the poetic arts through the reading and writing of poetry. The Poet Laureate will serve a two-year term and will commit to a minimum of three City sponsored and selected public appearances for each year of service.
"I can think of no one more worthy of this honor than Carmen Tafolla. She's not only an accomplished poet and educator; she is a homegrown talent who embodies the power and poignancy of art in our community. I am proud to call her San Antonio's first Poet Laureate," Mayor Julián Castro responded to the determination by the Poet Laureate selection committee. The announcement follows the Mayor’s State of the City address where he called for San Antonians to “be bold and invest in the city’s future” through education, early childhood education in particular.
The City’s Office of Cultural Affairs received 21 nominations representing 15 local poets. The selection committee was comprised of poetsfrom around the country: Francisco Aragon (San Francisco, CA), Catherine Bowman (Indiana), Cyrus Cassells (Texas), and Valerie Martinez (New Mexico). The application process opened in November 2011 and nominations were accepted until January 18, 2012. The committee review process took approximately six weeks.
Tafolla’s goal as Poet Laureate, she believes, is to bring the joy of literature into the daily lives of the people of this great pueblo, and to empower the expression of their own poetic voices in our young and old alike. She believes strongly that a multicultural dual-language education is one of the greatest gifts we can provide our children, and that effective family literacy is heavily dependent on the availability of stories and literature to which people can relate culturally and realistically. “Literacy and literature cannot be realistically separated if we hope to have an impact on all of our residents,” says Tafolla. “Powerful stories that reflect our reality reverberate inside us, and give us meaning. Literature cannot afford to be elitist or disconnected from the community.”
Her first solo collection of poetry, Curandera, was published in 1983, and gleaned her recognition as a master of “code-switching,” the art of alternating between formal and colloquial Spanish and English, as a literary technique. She has been called “a world class writer” by Alex Haley, and a “pioneer of Chicana literature” by Ana Castillo. Tafolla has published five books of poetry, including the award-winning Sonnets to Human Beings, translated into German in 1992, Spanish in 1994, and Bengali in 2006; the most recent collection, Rebozos, will be published in September 2012.
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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 10, 2011
As announced by the American Library Association (ALA) …
Pura Belpré (Author) Award
Honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:
“The Dreamer,” written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, is the 2011 Belpré Author Award winner. The book is illustrated by Peter Sís and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Three BelpréAuthor Honor Books were named:
“¡Olé! Flamenco,” written and illustrated by George Ancona and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.; “The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba,” written by Margarita Engle and published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC; and “90 Miles to Havana,” written by Enrique Flores-Galbis and published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.
Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award
Honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:
“Grandma’s Gift,” illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez, is the 2011 Belpré Illustrator Award winner. The book is published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
Three Belpré Illustrator Honor Books for illustration were selected:
“Fiesta Babies,” illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla and published by Tricycle Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.; “Me, Frida,” illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS; “Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin,” illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.
The Américas Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature is given in recognition of U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction (from picture books to works for young adults) published in the previous year in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States. The award, which is sponsored by the U.S. Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP), reaches beyond national borders to focus on the the diversity of cultural heritage throughout the continents of North and South America.
The award winners and commended titles are selected for their:
distinctive literary quality;
cultural contextualization;
exceptional integration of text, illustration and design;
potential for classroom use.
2010 Américas Award Winners
Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez (Knopf, 20090.
What Can You Do with a Paleta? / ¿Qué puedes hacer con una paleta? by Carmen Tafolla, illustrated by Magaly Morales (Tricycle Press, 2009).
Américas Award Honorable Mentions
Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann (Curbstone, 2009).
I Know the River Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama by Maya Christina González (Children’s Book Press, 2009).
My Papa Diego and Me: Memories of My Father and His Art / Mi papa Diego y yo: Recuerdos de mi padre y su arte by Guadalupe Rivera Marín and Diego Rivera (Children’s Book Press, 2009).
The full commended list can be found here. The winning books will be honored at a ceremony during Hispanic Heritage Month (15 September – 15 October 2010) at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
As a way to kick-off Hispanic Heritage Month, I would like to suggest the young adult book The Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans, by Carmen Tafolla (reviewed by Marjorie and also mentioned in her answers to Stacy’s questions for today’s BBAW’s Blogger Interview Swap). The winner of the 2009 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award (tied for the honor with Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s YA novel, He Forgot to Say Goodbye), the book offers a collection of 16 short stories that explore the human spirit inherent in the bilingual, bicultural world of the Texas-Mexico border.
We hope this and the many other books we have highlighted on the PaperTigers website and blog through the years can help children and young adults understand more about the rich and important tapestry we call Hispanic America.
