Congratulations on being selected as a Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home program partner. On this page, you’ll find information and resources to help you plan, promote, present, and report on your two grant-supported programs: a discussion group with a poet/scholar and a second event of your choice.

You’ll also find notes on the project’s eight core humanities themes and sample promotional language and art assets you can use in your publicity.

Section Contents:
• About the Project
• Project Resources
• Project Requirements
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About the Project

Spanning early accounts of colonial expeditions in the Southwest, visions of the mythical site of Chicano origin, Aztlán, and contemporary expressions of diasporic longing and imagination, the Latino poetic tradition brings dazzling insight to what it means to make a home in America, all the while imparting its own distinct rhythms, lyricism, and candor to American verse. 

Recognition of the beauty and power of this tradition has grown in recent years, with Latino poets receiving two national and twelve state Poet Laureateships, a Pulitzer Prize, and three National Book Awards. At the same time the questions confronted by Latino poets—of exile and belonging, language and identity, struggle and solidarity, and labor and landscape—have become ever more urgent. 

What does Latino poetry reveal about America? How might it help us imagine a more just, joyful, and capacious future? Places We Call Home explores these and other questions through a nationwide engagement with the Latino poetic tradition, illuminating how its legacy of creativity, resistance, and reinvention shapes our evolving aspirations of e pluribus unum.

This initiative is made possible by Chairman’s special award from the National Endowment for the Humanities and comprises signature events in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio/Houston, New York City, and San Juan, Puerto Rico; scholar-led public conversations in seventy-five public libraries around the country; a website with resources and a media archive; and a groundbreaking new anthology, edited by principal humanities advisor Rigoberto González.  ‍

Project Resources

As a participant in Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, you’ll receive:‍

• A $1,200 grant to support free public programming (grants may be used for direct costs associated with your events, including an honorarium for a local poet/scholar; travel expenses; actor/performer fees; and publicity and advertising)
• One copy of Latino Poetry: TheLibrary of America Anthology, a hardcover anthology edited by Rigoberto González to be published by Library of America in September 2024
• This guidelines and resources packet with information and suggestions for planning and publicizing your events 
• An orientation webinar (date TBD) for program partners and scholars/facilitators that will cover best practices for organizing and running public programs
• Logistical support and consultation from LOA throughout the grant period

You can also draw on these publicly available resources on latinopoetry.org:

• The Latino Poetry Reader (coming soon), a selection of featured poems, essays by poets and scholars, and discussion questions illuminating the project’s eight core humanities themes
• Biographies of featured poets
• Video readings and commentary by scholars, poets, actors, musicians, and other public figures
•An event calendar for the project period running from September 2024 through April 2025

Project Requirements

As a Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home program partner, you’re required to complete the following steps:‍

• Present two (or more) public programs, at least one of which will be a reading and discussion of a poem or poems in the Latino Poetry Reader  or Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, moderated by a poet/scholar
• Participate in the orientation webinar on public program best practices
• Promote your programs to a diverse audience within your community
• Offer programs free of charge and open to the public in an accessible venue (click here for notes on accessibility and inclusivity)
• Report on your event‍

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Section Contents:
• Step One: Planning Your Events
• Step Two: Promoting Your Events
• Step Three: Holding Your Events
• Step Four: Reporting on Your Events

Step One: Planning Your Events

We encourage you to begin planning your event at least three months in advance to ensure you have enough time to contact a poet/scholar, prepare for your discussion group, settle on a format for a second event, and address all necessary logistics. The specific nature of your events may be shaped by the poet/scholar or your institution’s area of focus and the community it serves, any relevant collections or archives you can access, and previous programs you’ve held.

Below you’ll find suggestions for making use of the materials in the Latino Poetry Reader and on latinopoetry.org; reaching out to poet/scholars; organizing discussion groups; and conceptualizing a second event.

Using Humanities Themes

The project’s eight core humanities themes, discussed at length in the Latino Poetry Reader, were selected to inspire discussion and engagement with the Latino poetic tradition in public programs. Each of these themes is illustrated by poems in the Reader, and together they serve as guideposts for discussion groups. Events can focus on one specific theme or draw on a variety of themes, poems, and questions.  You're also welcome to supplement your programming with poems not included in the Latino Poetry Reader.

Finding a Poet/Scholar
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If you haven’t done so already, you’ll want to find a poet/scholar to lead and moderate your discussion group. We recommend involving this person in the planning process as early as possible to help strengthen the scholarship at the heart of your event.
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The ideal discussion group moderator is a poet or scholar (or both) who can effectively and enthusiastically facilitate a high-quality conversation on the Latino poetic tradition with an audience that might be new to the topic. The poet/scholar’s expertise might be reflected in formal academic credentials, their artistic work as poets, or their connections with a local literary community.

Here are some tips on getting in touch with a suitable poet/scholar for your event:

• Contact a nearby college or university’s Literature, Creative Writing, Spanish, English, Ethnic/Latinx/Chicanx and/or Latin American Studies Department. Faculty may be able to suggest scholars on campus or at other universities. If you are affiliated with a college or university, e-mail faculty with a description of your event and seek assistance from resident scholars. If you’re not affiliated with an academic institution, many schools maintain an online directory of faculty, which may include a professor’s area of research and teaching expertise.
• Connect with one of the Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home National Partners, who can help you find resources for identifying poets or scholars in your area. A directory of helpful contacts can be found below.
• Send a request for information to the editors of H-Net, the humanities online discussion network for humanities scholars
• Call your State Humanities Council, which regularly works with scholars in your area. For a directory of State Humanities Councils, see below.
• Look back at similar past programs at your organization and in your area for possible moderators with relevant experience
• Contact Library of America’s Public Humanities Fellow at latinopoetry@loa.org 

Organizing Discussion Groups

Once you've found a poet/scholar to moderate your discussion group, you can begin to plan the event, one of the two public programs you’ll hold as a Places We Call Home participant. Ideas on planning your second event can be found below. For discussion group participation guidelines, see Step Three.
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Here are a few questions to consider when brainstorming your discussion group:

• What is a discussion group? Discussion groups are an important aspect of humanities-oriented public programming. They encourage active participation among your patrons and allow them to develop their own ideas and conclusions about the subject. There isn’t a strict format for what a discussion group can look like, but when planning and running your events, we encourage you to involve audience members as active participants. Consider event formats in which attendees will have opportunities to participate in the discussion and engage with themes and poems featured in the Latino Poetry Reader.

• How can the Latino Poetry Reader and Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology be used in discussion groups? Once you’ve chosen your poet/scholar to lead the discussion group, we suggest working with them to select poems and texts that are relevant to your target audience (more info on identifying your event’s target audience is below).

As you select your poems, consider the following:

○ Do I want to reflect a local demographic or poetic tradition in my programming, or do I want to curate an event that brings perspectives, poets, and traditions to my community that might be less well known? Both answers can lead to fruitful and rich programming.
○ Are the poems age-appropriate for my intended audience?
○ Is the audience primarily English-speaking, Spanish-speaking, or a mix of both?
○ Do the poems reflect the area of expertise of the discussion leader?

• Should discussion questions be prepared in advance? We recommend organizing the event around a series of prepared questions chosen by the discussion group leader. Depending on the group size and the length of the event, you could have anywhere from six to twenty questions on your list. If needed, these questions can be partially or fully drawn from examples included in the Latino Poetry Reader.

• Should poems be read aloud at the event? Because audience members cannot be expected to have read the poems in advance, we strongly recommend presenting them as part of the event, either by reading them aloud or showing a recording from the media archive on latinopoetry.org.

• How big should your discussion group be? Discussion groups may range in size from fifteen to fifty participants. Typically, however, a registered group of between twenty and thirty people is the optimal size for a dynamic flow of conversation.

If you have a large group with lots of active participants, it may be beneficial to organize smaller breakout groups so every attendee has an opportunity to speak. Conversely, if most people choose to listen rather than talk, a single, larger discussion group might be preferable. We encourage you to create strategies that encourage everyone in the group to speak if they’d like to, either through icebreakers, personal introductions, going around the group to hear everyone’s reactions, or dividing up into smaller conversation groups.

Of course, the size of your discussion groups will depend on the size limitations of the venue. In general, try to ensure that everyone who chooses to speak can be seen and heard, that your space is accessible, and that you have enough room and chairs for participants to sit and gather comfortably. For more information on setting up your space, see Step Three. For notes on accessible and inclusive programming, see Part III below.

• When should events be held? If you’re planning in-person programming, you may choose to hold sessions either during the day or in the evening, depending on your [target audience]. Daytime sessions tend to attract retired patrons, whereas evening and weekend sessions generally attract a broader range of participants. If the option is available, you might choose to hold both daytime and evening sessions to give all interested community members a chance to participate. 

Planning Your Second Event

In addition to holding a moderated discussion group, your Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home programming should include a second event in a format of your choice. You might already have a clear plan for this event, but if not, here are a few ideas:

• Poetry readings featuring local poets from the anthology
• Programs with a particular relevance to your community. Who are some of the Latino poets who hail from your area? How was their art shaped by the community?
• Panel discussions featuring local poets, scholars, and community leaders
• A lecture by a local poetry scholar and/or specialist in Latino literature (perhaps the poet/scholar moderating your discussion group)
• A poetry workshop led by a local writing instructor or poet using featured poems or project themes as inspiration
• An interdisciplinary workshop (e.g., visual art, theater, dance) featuring poems as prompts
• A poetry slam or open mic in which local poets share their work and poems from the tradition that inspire them
• An exhibition (e.g., photographs, memorabilia, a poet’s archive) that reflects your community’s historic engagement with the tradition
• Staged readings by local poets, actors, or other public figures of featured poems, potentially combined with screenings of materials from the latinopoetry.org media archive
• A musical performance that highlights the mutual influences of Latino poetry and music
• A documentary film screening on one of the poets or movements in the tradition

Want to discuss another idea with us? Feel free to reach out to latinopoetry@loa.org.

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Step Two: Promoting Your Events

We encourage you to plan and implement a promotional campaign to draw an audience to your events and raise awareness about the Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home project. We recommend starting your promotions at least two months before your first event so you have plenty of time to get the message out to your community.

Below you’ll find suggestions for promoting your events, first by identifying a target audience, and then reaching them through various types of outreach (e.g., e-mail, social media, printed flyers). For required crediting language, example promotional language, and art assets you can draw on, see here.

Identifying Your Target Audience

Some questions you can ask to help determine your target audience are:

• Where do they work?
• What kinds of community activities do they participate in?
• What social, religious, professional, and civic organizations (e.g., historical societies, museums, and arts and humanities councils) do they belong to?
• What educational institutions do they or their children attend?
• What accommodations might they need (e.g., assistive listening devices, childcare)? More info on accessibility considerations is in Part III of this packet.

Strategizing Your Outreach

Once you’ve gotten a sense of your target audience, brainstorm the most effective ways to reach them and others in your community. A few guiding questions you can ask are:

• What communication methods has your organization used successfully in the past? Do you have a robust social media following, for example, or a sizable e-mail list you can leverage?
• Who on your team will be responsible for outreach and publicity? Does your organization have a dedicated marketing team you could partner with?
• Where do your target audiences typically get their news or information about your community? Some factors to consider might be the audience’s age, access to technology, library patronage, etc.
• What mix of paid, unpaid, and earned (e.g., media coverage) promotion do you want to strive for? In general, we recommend allocating your budget across several channels to maximize your campaign’s reach.
• How frequently will you communicate? Try to spread out your messaging so your audience has multiple chances to see it (but be mindful of spamming people).
• Where will you get language and images for promoting the event? We’ve included some art assets and sample promotional language below, but feel free to tailor your messaging to suit your institution’s voice and audience.

Getting the Word Out

While your specific promotional approach will depend on your institution and target audience, it will likely involve a mix of press and media outreach; social media, e-mail, and digital marketing; direct communication with groups or community members; and paid advertising.

Below you’ll find suggestions and ideas for each of these approaches. For sample art assets and language you can draw from, included required crediting language, see below.

Press and Media Outreach
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Two to four weeks before your event, send a press release announcing the program to your local newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations. In addition to contacting outlets and reporters directly, you can also use services like PRWeb to distribute your press release online for a fee.

Here are a few tips for effective press releases:

• If possible, address your press releases to a specific person: a reporter you think might be interested in your event, a local editor or station manager, or the contact for a publication’s event calendar. If that information isn’t available, you can reach out to “News Desk” for larger publications or “Editor” for smaller ones.
• See if your local TV and radio stations would be willing to air a free public service announcement (PSA) about your program or event. Stations are required by law to use a percentage of their airtime for nonprofit and public announcements.
• Include promotional materials and key information. In your outreach e-mails to media contacts, attach the press release, paste a version of the press release in the body of the e-mail, introduce yourself, and explain why you think your event may be of interest to their audience.
• A week before the event, follow up on your press release with phone calls and e-mails to remind reporters and media outlets about the event and confirm whether they’re planning to promote or cover it.
• Prepare and distribute press kits. If media professionals are interested in attending the event or receiving more information, you can give them a press kit containing one copy of the press release and media alert, photos and biographies of your speakers and other key participants, and copies of all promotional materials.

Social Media, E-mail, and Digital Marketing

Promoting and sharing information about your event on the internet—whether on your institution’s website, social media accounts, or other channels—is among the most flexible and cost-effective ways to get the word out.

Though your approach to digital marketing will depend on your institution’s needs, capabilities, and audience, here are a few ideas to help you plan:

• Post details about the program’s date, time, location, panelists, and topic(s) to your institution’s events page (if you don’t have an events page, consider talking to your webmaster about creating one). In the listing, include links to the Latino Poetry website [latinopoetry.org] and, if applicable, the websites/social media pages of your panelists. Share the URL for your events page in all promotional materials, letting people know to check it for the most up-to-date information on the program.
• Check if local organizations (city government, community centers, chamber of commerce, etc.) can post information about the event to their websites. Many major cities also have online entertainment and event guides (e.g., Citysearch, TimeOut) that may be willing to list your program.
• If you keep a list of patrons’ e-mail addresses, consider sending a mass message about the event. You can also send an e-mail about the program to community group leaders so they can forward it to their membership.
• Use different social media platforms (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X) to build word-of-mouth and raise awareness about your event. Create and curate content—interesting articles, stories, videos, and pictures—that relate to the theme of your event, and tailor your messaging to the strengths of each platform (e.g., photos and videos on Instagram, shorter posts on Threads or Twitter/X).
• Rather than rely on paid social media advertising, try and raise organic engagement with your content by posting material that is high quality, interesting, and encourages sharing and discussion.
• Don’t be afraid to repeat. Sharing a piece of content more than once, especially one that is important or proves to be popular, ensures that almost all of your followers will see it. Just remember to space out reposts across several days or weeks to avoid the impression of spamming followers with the same message.
• Continue the conversation. Responding to questions and following up on the content you post to social media lets you stay engaged with followers and boosts the visibility of your outreach, drawing in new audiences.

Direct Communication

‍Once you identify which local organizations and groups are your target audience, you can contact them directly with information about your event and encouragement to attend and spread the word. Here are a few ideas you can consider:

• When contacting organizations, send a personalized letter or e-mail, or make a phone call. This can add a human touch to your outreach and let organizations know that you’re reaching out to them specifically.
• Create a list of influential people in your community (mayor, city council members, business leaders, etc.) who may be interested in your event. Send a personalized message and program flyer and ask how they might want to get involved or support your events.
• Reach out to schools, youth organizations, senior centers, and clubs to insure inclusive, intergenerational programs that reflect the breadth of your community (more on curating accessible events is below).If you’ve worked with schools in your area before, consider adding them as a partner to your programs. Outreach and previous partnership with schools will also be a component of grant reporting, which you can read about here.
• Ask community groups if you can speak about your events at one of their upcoming meetings. In your presentation, you can outline your programs, share reasons why group members might be interested in attending, and pass out flyers and other promotional materials that people can take with them.

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Paid Advertising

Often the most expensive promotional method, paid advertising can also be one of the most effective ways to promote your program. Below are a few ideas to keep in mind as you plan your ad strategy:

• Promotional flyers and posters should be simple, with an eye-catching graphic and basic information about the program: its title or theme, when and where it’s happening, names and brief biographies of your panelists, acknowledgment of funders and program partners, and links to your institution’s website and/or events calendar. For sample art assets you can use, see below.
• Paid advertising in newspapers and radio or TV stations is an effective but costly method. Before committing to a paid campaign, approach local media to see if they do free public service announcements or might be interested in doing a story on your events. (See Press and Media Outreach above.)

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Step Three: Holding Your Events

Below you’ll find suggestions for making sure you’re ready to go day-of, including tips on setting up your space and recording your programs:

• Predicting attendance. It can be hard to predict the number of people who will show up at your event, even if you’ve been collecting RSVPs. That said, plan to have enough seats and materials available to accommodate all registrants. For larger events, such as public readings or panels, you might anticipate having additional audience members who didn’t register or learned about the event via word-of-mouth.
• Directions and signage. Consider putting up signs and/or having a greeter to direct attendees to your event’s location. Depending on the size of your space, you can also post signage to help attendees find, e.g., bathrooms, water fountains, first-aid stations.
• Tailor your space’s layout to your event. For example, it can be helpful for discussion groups to be held around a table or in a circle to encourage listening and equal participation. If you anticipate a large gathering, you could break up attendees into several smaller discussion groups. For events with a panel or a featured reader, test that people can see and hear the speaker(s) no matter where they’re seated in the room.
• Printouts and materials. If you’re using printed materials (e.g., a printout of a poem, discussion questions), consider sharing them with attendees beforehand via e-mail as a Word document or PDF. You can also print physical copies to hand out to audience members who need them or use a projector to show materials during the presentation.
• Recording. If you’re planning on recording your event, test your setup in advance to make sure everything’s working and that audio and video are clear. There are many ways to record audio and video, from using your phone’s built-in camera and microphone to more advanced (and expensive) multicamera setups. Ultimately your approach to recording will depend on your organization’s capabilities and expertise, but here are a few resources were commend that cover the basics:
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    ○ LiveStream Tips and Execution Steps (American Library Association)
    ○ The Fundamentals of Live Sound Recording (Sweetwater.com)
    ○ Tips for Capturing a Live Event on Video (LinkedIn)

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Step Four: Reporting on Your Events

Reporting is a requirement for all projects funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For this reason, we recommend asking and answering the following questions as you go to make reporting as easy as possible:

• Have I confirmed my event dates at least sixty days beforehand?
• Do I have a system in place to keep track of all costs associated with my event, including in-kind costs (i.e., costs that are covered by someone’s donation of money or time)?
• Do I have a system to keep track of event registrations and attendance (e.g., RSVP form, guest sign-in, confirmation over e-mail)?
• Have I promoted my event through at least three separate channels (e.g., local media, online, and direct outreach to patrons) and kept copies of all promotional materials?
• Have I used all required crediting language for promotional materials? 

Preliminary Report

Sixty days before the start of your events, you’ll need to share a preliminary report with LOA to confirm that your programming is planned and ready to go forward. LOA will e-mail you a link to a form where you’ll be asked to enter the following information:

• Your event dates
• A brief description of your two events: a discussion group moderated by a poet-scholar and a second event in a format of your choice

Final Report

After your events have ended, you’ll be asked to share a final report with LOA that includes the following information:

• Age demographics of attendees (number of adults, children, and young adults)
• Total cost of your events
• A list of funding sources (direct and in-kind)
• Three publicity samples
• Comments by participants: please include feedback from patrons about your programming, either online comments or responses to an in-person questionnaire
• References from schools or youth organizations that you’ve partnered with in the past and/or sought to include in your events

We’ll e-mail you a link to submit your final report to LOA.

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These eight core humanities themes, discussed at length in the Latino Poetry Reader, are selected to inspire discussion and engagement with the Latino poetic tradition in public programs. Themes are meant to serve as guideposts for discussion groups and can be used as the bulk of discussion group curricula or as supplemental material. Participants are welcome to focus on one particular theme or draw from a selection of themes, poems, and questions. Partners are also welcome to base events on poets included in Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology and not featured in the Reader.

Note: for programmers planning bilingual or Spanish language discussion groups, we encourage you to make use of the materials in the Language theme.

Ancestry & Identity
The Latin American diaspora is large and multifaceted, and the work of Latino poets reflects a rich variety of cultures, histories, and communities. How is identity explored in these poems? How does Latino poetry illuminate tensions between the desire to preserve one’s culture and the pressure to assimilate? How does personal allegiance to different and sometimes disparate identities, including assertions of feminism, queerness, and Black or Indigenous heritage, change, enlarge, or nuance what it means to be Latino, and American, today?

Voice & Resistance
Latino Poetry has a robust tradition of protest and critique. Latinos have participated in all the major social justice and liberation movements in the U.S. in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, from the civil rights movement to advocacy for LGBTQ+ and undocumented people, to workers’ rights. Freedom struggles in places such as Puerto Rico stretch back even further. Poets were essential in these movements: at the height of the Chicano movement poets were often featured at political events. What sort of language and imagery do we encounter in the political poems of the Latino poetic tradition? How do the poets understand their role in political struggle?

Language
Many Latino poets write in English while retaining strong and vital links with Spanish and Indigenous languages—working in innovative ways with Spanglish, drawing from pre-Hispanic languages such as Nahuatl, or exploring the untranslatable web of connotations of different languages. What expressive possibilities are opened up in the poems by the interplay of English, Spanish, Spanglish, and other vocabularies? (Poems are either in translation, bilingual, or in Spanish).

First & Second Homes
Many Latino poets have explored what it means to live in the U.S. while retaining, even over many generations, deep connections to an ancestral homeland. How do poets express a sense of displacement and exile? What role do cultural memory and nostalgia play? How do the histories of war, national sovereignty, shifting borders, and the quest for economic security affect how poets understand themselves, their families, and their communities?

Family & Community
Poetry often speaks to the bonds of family and community. How have Latino poets depicted these relationships—among children, parents, and grandparents, between intimate partners, and within wider communities, informal networks of support, and “chosen families”? What sorts of practices and rituals surrounding family and community do we find in Latino poetry, and how have poets explored the effects of migration, generational change, and other circumstances on these traditions?

Music & Performance
The musical traditions of Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean have been crucial wellsprings for Latino poetry. How have Latino poets drawn on musical traditions in their poems? Which musical figures have they singled out for praise and why? How has music informed their sense of poetry as a performative art, to be heard aloud as much as (or more than) to be read on the page?

Labor
Latino poets have drawn inspiration from their backgrounds, often working-class but also from other social strata. Work figures variously in Latino poetry, ranging from underpaid and demanding farm labor to professions such as teaching. How is work presented in these poems? What sort of value is placed on labor—manual, domestic, and intellectual? What is the relationship between the work and workers portrayed and the poet’s own labor?

Eco-consciousness
Latino poetry emphasizes multiple relationships to the earth, invoking everything from ancestral myths, to profound and reverent attentiveness to landscape, to urgent eco-consciousness. What might Latino poetry have to offer or teach us at a time of deep concern about our environmental future? ‍

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Below you’ll find sample language you can draw on to promote your Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home events (though feel free to tailor your messaging to your specific community). You’ll also find downloadable art assets for the project that you can use in graphics, flyers, or other event materials. We recommend that you use the attached logos in at least one of your promotional campaigns.

Required Crediting Language

Regardless of whether you incorporate the templates provided below this section in your promotional campaigns, we ask that, in all project-related material, you include the following sentence: 

• English: “This program is presented as part of Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, a major public humanities initiative taking place across the nation in 2024 and 2025, directed by Library of America and funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.”

• Español: “Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home (Lugares que llamamos hogar) es una gran iniciativa pública en el campo de las humanidades, que se proyecta para el 2024 – 2025. Es dirigida por Library of América con el generoso apoyo del Fondo Nacional para las Humanidades.”

Suggested Language for Describing the Project

Short blurb, version 1:
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• English: “Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home is a major public humanities initiative, planned for 2024–25, that celebrates and explores the multifaceted legacy of Latino poetry. It is directed by Library of America and funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.”

• Español: “Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home (Lugares que llamamos hogar) es una gran iniciativa pública en el campo de las humanidades, que se proyecta para el 2024 – 2025. Es dirigida por Library of América con el generoso apoyo del Fondo Nacional para las Humanidades.”

Short blurb, version 2:

• English: “Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home is a national public humanities initiative directed by Library of America with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, comprising a groundbreaking anthology, events around the country, and an online media archive.”

• Español: “Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home (Lugares que llamamos hogar) es una gran iniciativa pública en el campo de las humanidades, dirigida por Library of America con el generoso apoyo del Fondo Nacional para las Humanidades, que comprende programas públicos por todo el país; un archivo multimedia; y una nueva antología sin precedentes.

Long blurb (English):

‍For nearly five centuries, the rich tapestry of Latino poetry has been woven from a wealth of languages and cultures. With distinctive rhythms, lyricism, and candor, and nuanced understandings of place, history, and origin, Latino poets have brought dazzling insight to what it means to make a home in America.

Recognition of the beauty and power of this tradition has grown in recent years, with Latino poets receiving two national and twelve state Poet Laureateships, a Pulitzer Prize, and three National Book Awards. At the same time, the perennial questions confronted by Latino poets—of exile and belonging, language and identity, struggle and solidarity, and labor and landscape—have become ever more urgent.

What does Latino poetry reveal about America? How might it help us imagine a more just, joyful, and capacious future? Places We Call Home seeks to foster nationwide conversation on this vital literature through a groundbreaking new anthology edited by Rigoberto González, events around the country, an online media archive, and a wealth of library resources meant to spur in-depth reflection and discussion on key figures and themes.

Funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Places We Call Home is directed by Library of America and presented in partnership with the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures; the Academy of American Poets; Cave Canem; Poetry Society of America; and the National Book Foundation, among others.

Long blurb (español):

Desde hace cinco siglos, una gran variedad de lenguas y culturas se vienen entretejiendo para formar ese colorido tapiz que es la poesía latina en Estados Unidos. Los poetas latinos nos han permitido ver a Estados Unidos como un hogar a través de originales ritmos, gran lirismo y candor; nos han brindado sugerentes visiones de lo que llamamos “lugar,”  “historia” y “origen.”

En años recientes, la poesía latina viene adquiriendo el reconocimiento que se merece por su belleza y su añeja tradición. Evidencia de ello es el hecho de que varios poetas latinos han sido merecedores de dos galardones a nivel nacional y doce a nivel estatal, un premio Pulitzer y  tres Premios Nacionales del Libro. Asimismo, las preguntas existenciales y los retos sociales que enfrentan estos poetas— el exilio y la pertenencia, el lenguaje y la identidad, la lucha y la solidaridad, la labor y la tierra—se vuelven cada vez más urgentes.

¿Qué nos revela la poesía latina sobre los Estados Unidos ? ¿De qué manera nos ayuda a imaginar un futuro más justo, jubiloso, y esperanzador ? Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home (Lugares que llamamos hogar) busca fomentar una conversación de impacto nacional sobre la poesía latina a través de una nueva antología sin precedentes, eventos por todo el país,  un archivo multimedia,  y una gran cantidad de recursos bibliotecarios destinados a inspirar discusiones e interpretaciones de fondo sobre figuras y temas imprescindibles.

Places We Call Home es un proyecto financiado por una beca del Fondo Nacional para las Humanidades, dirigido por Library of America. Es presentado en colaboración con the Naitonal Association of Latino Arts and Cultures; the Academy of American Poets; Cave Canem; Poetry Society of America; y the National Book Foundation entre otras organizaciones.

About Library of America
‍
• English: Library of America is a nonprofit organization that champions our nation’s cultural heritage by publishing America’s greatest writing in authoritative new editions and providing resources for readers to explore this rich, living legacy.

• Español: Library of America es una organización no lucrativa que se dedica a enaltecer el legado cultural norteamericano a través de la publicación de obras imprescindibles en ediciones autorizadas. También procura apoyo y recursos al público lector con el fin de mantener y enriquecer la vida de esta gran herencia.

Downloadable Logos and Art Assets

Click this link to download a zipped folder (2.1 MB) with logos and art for Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home.

Section Contents:
• Staff and partner directory
• Humanities councils by state

Staff and Partner Directory

Staff Support
Below you will find contact information for the Latino Poetry team at Library of America. We can address any follow-up questions you may have and offer support throughout the programming period.

General Questions
latinopoety@loa.org

Programing Logistics
Susana Plotts-Pineda, Public Humanities Fellow, Library of America
splottspineda@loa.org

Project Resources
Brian McCarthy, Project Manager, Library of America
bmccarthy@loa.org

Project Themes
James Gibbons, Contributing Editor, Library of America
jgibbons@loa.org

Outreach and Audience Development
Ben Lasman, Online Content Manager, Library of America
blasman@loa.org


Support from Our Partners
The following national partners can offer ideas and suggestions for poets and scholars to participate in public programs.

Matt Brogan, Executive Director, Poetry Society of America
matt@poetysociety.org

Laura Villareal, Associate, Letras Latinas at Universty of Notre Dame
lvillarealwrites@gmail.com

Humanities Councils by State

The state humanities councils listed below can also provide advice and resources. You might also consider reaching out to your local REFORMA chapter, listed here.    

Arizona
https://azhumanities.org/

Arkansas
https://arkansashumanitiescouncil.org/

California
https://calhum.org/

Colorado
https://coloradohumanities.org/

Connecticut
https://cthumanities.org/

Delaware
https://dehumanities.org/

Florida
https://floridahumanities.org/

Hawaii
https://hihumanities.org/

Idaho
https://www.idahohumanities.org/

Illinois
https://ilhumanities.org/

Indiana
https://indianahumanities.org/

Iowa
https://humanitiesiowa.org/

Kansas
https://www.humanitieskansas.org/

Kentucky
https://www.kyhumanities.org/

Massachusetts
https://masshumanities.org/

Michigan
https://www.michiganhumanities.org/

Minnesota
https://www.mnhum.org/

Nevada
https://www.nevadahumanities.org/

New Hampshire
https://www.nhhumanities.org/

New Jersey
https://njhumanities.org/

New Mexico
https://nmhumanities.org/

New York
https://humanitiesny.org/

North Carolina
https://nchumanities.org/

Oregon
https://www.oregonhumanities.org/

Pennsylvania
https://pahumanities.org/

Puerto Rico
https://www.statehumanities.org/by-council/fundacion-puertorriquena-de-las-humanidades/

South Carolina
https://schumanities.org/

Texas*
https://www.humanitiestexas.org/

Utah
https://www.utahhumanities.org/

Virginia
https://virginiahumanities.org/

Washington*
https://www.humanities.org/

Washington D.C.
https://humanitiesdc.org/

West Virginia
https://wvhumanities.org/

Wisconsin
https://wisconsinhumanities.org/


*Select councils have partnered with Library of America to provide additional programming support to grantees. If your organization is based in one of these states, you can expect to hear from them soon. Alternatively, you can reach out to splottspineda@loa.org and she will put you in touch.