From September–October 2024 (Hispanic Heritage Month) through April 2025 (National Poetry Month), Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home will bring free public programs to thirty-two states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, including signature events in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Dallas, New York City, and San Juan and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. See below for more information and scroll down for a full calendar of events nationwide.
View a gallery of videos and photos from public events.
Dallas-based literary nonprofit Activating Reading Communities Organization (ARCO) and the Latino Cultural Center present Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home—A Dallas Celebration, a two-day event honoring Latino voices through poetry, dance, and art.
Chicago Public Library hosts musical performances and readings in an event moderated by editor, Rigoberto González at their Central Branch.
Brooklyn Public Library and the Clemente Center host an outdoor launch event with readings and performances at the BPL Central Branch and a featured panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival featuring Rigoberto González.
Nuestra Palabra hosts Houston voices immortalized in Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology. Volume editor Rigoberto González and local teen poets from the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts will also make appearances.
Los Angeles Public Library hosts outdoor celebration with music, readings, and dedicated altar at the opening of the Day of the Dead Festival.
Puerto Rico Foundation for the Humanities and Puerto Rico Center for the Book host a book presentation at Teatro Tapia in San Juan, a reading and discussion at University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, and a poetry slam and reading at the annual Fiesta de las Humanidades in Isabela.
Miami Book Fair and Books and Books dedicate the closing day of the Book Fair to the Latino Poetry Anthology with a reading and conversation with anthology poets and a live music dance party.
Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the Institute for Latino Studies at University of Notre Dame, was a major collaborator on Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, which coincided with Letras Latinas’s yearlong twentieth anniversary celebrations.
For the past twenty years, Letras Latinas has “strived to enhance the visibility, appreciation, and study of Latinx literature” via public programs, curated conversations, oral history archives, prizes and publication initiatives, and more.
Through the thoughtful efforts of initiative director Francisco Aragón and associates Laura Villareal, Brent Ameneyro, and Cloud Cardona, Letras Latinas supported and/or organized seven anthology-related events at Notre Dame; Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.; Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles; St. Joe County Public Library in South Bend, Indiana; Watsonville Public Library in California; Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee; and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. Letras Latinas also championed and supported several Places We Call Home stipend applicants and awardees, significantly deepening the reach of the initiative through their dedication, resources, and care.
A conversation at McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame, moderated by Library of America fellow Susana Plotts-Pineda and featuring poet Richard Blanco and Latino Poetry volume editor Rigoberto González.
A reading and celebration at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., with poets Ricardo Ortiz, Dan Vera, Elizabeth Acevedo, Francisco Aragon, Juan J. Morales, and Alexandra Lytton Regalado.
Seventy-five libraries and cultural organizations across the nation received grants to host public programs as part of Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home. Check out the listings below for details on programs near you happening between September 2024 and April 2025.
