• Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Contact
  • What We Do
    • Portland Arts & Lectures
    • Youth Programs
    • Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
    • Delve Readers Seminar
    • Portland Book Festival
    • Writing Classes
    • The Archive Project
    • Event Calendar
  • Who We Are
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Our History
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Supporters
    • What Writers Say
    • Open Positions
    • Brian Booth Writers’ Fund
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Tickets & Class Registration
Slice 1 Created with Sketch.
Cart(0)
Menu
Slice 1 Created with Sketch.
Cart(0)
Menu
View Cart(0)
  • What We Do
    • Portland Arts & Lectures
    • Youth Programs
    • Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
    • Delve Readers Seminar
    • Portland Book Festival
    • Writing Classes
    • The Archive Project
    • Event Calendar
  • Who We Are
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Our History
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Supporters
    • What Writers Say
    • Open Positions
    • Brian Booth Writers’ Fund
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Tickets & Class Registration
https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/Archive_Project_512_Martin_Espada_PODCAST.mp3

Podcast (literary-arts-archive): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Facebook

SHARE

Twitter

TWEET

Thanks to our Supporters

J.W. & H.M. Goodman Family Foundation

Needmore Designs

Oregon Arts Commission

OPB

 

Thank you to Emancipator for donating their music to The Archive Project. Learn more about them at www.emancipatormusic.com.

 

← Back to Archives
https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/Archive_Project_512_Martin_Espada_PODCAST.mp3

Podcast (literary-arts-archive): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Facebook

SHARE

Twitter

TWEET

Thanks to our Supporters

J.W. & H.M. Goodman Family Foundation

Needmore Designs

Oregon Arts Commission

OPB

 

Thank you to Emancipator for donating their music to The Archive Project. Learn more about them at www.emancipatormusic.com.

 

← Back to Archives

Martín Espada

Poet and social justice advocate Martín Espada discusses his then most recent collection, A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen.

March 29th, 2000

Season 5

Portland, Oregon

Topic:

  • Career
  • Craft & Writing

Tone:

  • Conversational
  • Reading (of own work)

Genre:

  • Poetry

In this episode of The Archive Project, American Book Award winning poet Martín Espada discusses his then most poetry collection, A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen. In this, his sixth collection, Espada has created a poetic mural. There are conquerors, slaves, and rebels from Caribbean history; the “Mayan astronomer” calmly smoking a cigarette in the middle of a New York tenement fire; a nun staging a White House vigil to protest her torture; a man on death row mourning the loss of his books; and even Carmen Miranda. In many ways, the collection mirrors Espada’s own career: a winding, fascinating journey punctuated by episodes that on their surface could not appear to have less in common. Espada has worn many hats—civil rights lawyer, teacher, poet—and this is evident in the various people, places, and themes his work tackles.

As a courtesy, we warn that this episode contains sometimes graphic descriptions of violence and racism, and may not be suitable for all audiences.

​Martín Espada was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1957. He has published almost twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist, and translator. His latest collection of poems from Norton is called Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016). Other books of poems include The Trouble Ball (2011), The Republic of Poetry (2006), Alabanza (2003), A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen (2000), Imagine the Angels of Bread (1996), City of Coughing and Dead Radiators (1993) and Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover’s Hands (1990). His many honors include the 2018 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, the National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary Award, an American Book Award, the PEN/Revson Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Republic of Poetry was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The title poem of his collection Alabanza, about 9/11, has been widely anthologized and performed. His book of essays, Zapata’s Disciple (1998), was banned in Tucson as part of the Mexican-American Studies Program outlawed by the state of Arizona, and has been issued in a new edition by Northwestern University Press. A former tenant lawyer in Greater Boston’s Latino community, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

 

https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/Archive_Project_512_Martin_Espada_PODCAST.mp3

Podcast (literary-arts-archive): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

The Archive Project

A retrospective of some of the most engaging talks from the world’s best writers from over 30 years of Literary Arts in Portland. The Archive Project features the most sought-after talks from our Portland Arts & Lectures series and special events. Each week, we publish new lectures available for streaming on this website for free. With over 250 original lectures by the most creative and articulate minds of our generation, these discussions offer special moments between world-famous authors and our local literary community. Select episodes of The Archive Project air every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. on OPB radio. Click here to visit the show’s homepage on opb.org. Episodes released on our website and on OPB Radio are available for download on iTunes in the podcast section under "Literary Arts." Click here to visit The Archive Project on iTunes.

Also from this season:

Upcoming Events

View Entire Calendar →

January Writer of Color Sunday Morning Workshop

January Writer of Color Sunday Morning Workshop

January 5, 2020

Sunday, January 5, 2020 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Meets at Literary…

Buy Tickets

Building a Writing Habit

Building a Writing Habit

January 5, 2020

January 5 – February 9, 2020 Sundays, 10 a.m. to noon (6…

Buy Tickets

Collisions: Short Story Workshop

Collisions: Short Story Workshop

January 14, 2020

January 14–February 18, 2020 Tuesdays, 7:00–9:00 p.m. (six sessions) Instructor: Josha Nathan…

Buy Tickets

Everybody Reads 2020: Tommy Orange

Everybody Reads 2020: Tommy Orange

March 5, 2020

Literary Arts is proud to host an evening with award-winning author Tommy…

Buy Tickets

2020 Verselandia!

2020 Verselandia!

April 30, 2020

This event is sponsored in part by:

Buy Tickets

Latest Blog Posts

“Choose Creativity as a Lifestyle Despite the Horror:” Dorothea Lasky Reads From Animal

“Choose Creativity as a Lifestyle Despite the Horror:” Dorothea Lasky Reads From Animal

December 4, 2019

by Michael Porwoll, 2019-2020 @LA Events Intern “There was a comfort in this shared reality,” Dorothea Lasky read to an at-capacity audience at Literary Arts for Lit Crawl 2019. “This shared imagination.”             Animal, Lasky’s new book of lyric lectures…

Go to Post

Music Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum: Shelby Walton-Clark Brings “The Music and the Movement” to Literary Arts

Music Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum: Shelby Walton-Clark Brings “The Music and the Movement” to Literary Arts

November 26, 2019

by Michael Porwoll, 2019-2020 @ LA Events Intern              American music is inseparable from American history. And music, especially that which proves most socially impactful, is often inseparable from the painful experience of suffering (and triumphing) our nation at its…

Go to Post

2019 #PDXBookFest Quick Reference Guide: Poetry

October 30, 2019

The Portland Book Festival is a glorious, jam-packed day where you’re invited to choose your own adventure. But we know all the choices can be a little overwhelming. To help you plan your Festival day, we’ve curated a few handy…

Go to Post

Featured Lecture from the Archives

Malcolm Gladwell: Talking to Strangers

Malcolm Gladwell: Talking to Strangers

December 11, 2019

Bestselling author, New Yorker staffer, and renowned podcast producer, Malcolm Gladwell, discusses his latest book, Talking to Strangers.

Go to Lecture
Contact

Literary Arts
925 SW Washington St.
Portland, OR 97205

503.227.2583
503.241.4256 fax
la@literary-arts.org

Privacy Policy

Tweets
  • 2020 Residencies from @Tin_House! #writers #writingcommunity #pdx https://t.co/TrOgLfN05n about 55 minutes ago
  • Congratulations to Oregon writer Beth Alvarado @AutumnHousePrs, longlisted for @PENamerica's #PENLitAwards 2020 PEN… https://t.co/m0SegzQMKW about 1 hour ago
Newsletter

Sign up to receive Literary Arts' monthly e-news!

Thank you!

Literary Arts appreciates the continuing support of…

National Endowment for the Arts  Regional Arts & Culture Council  Work For Art  Oregon Arts Commission

© 2019 Literary Arts

Website by Needmore Designs