Palabra Pura
Palabra Pura promotes literary expression in more than one tongue through a bilingual poetry reading featuring Chicano and Latino artists. With an aim to foster dialogue through literature in Chicago and beyond, these evenings pair local poets and visiting writers, and feature open mics to encourage the interaction of diverse voices, ideas, and aesthetics. The readings are generally held the third Wednesday of the month four times a year.
Palabra Pura se enfoca en la expresion literaria en varios idiomas a traves de una serie de lecturas bilingues con artistas Chicanos y Latinos. Nuestra meta es promover el dialogo a traves de la literatura en Chicago y mas alla. Con este fin, cado lectura combina un poeta local con uno invitado, ademas de un open mic para cultivar la interaccion de voces, ideas y esteticas diversas. Las lecturas se ofrecen el tercer miercoles del mes cuatro veces al año.
Next Palabra Pura
ONE POET/ONE POEM
Photo by Matthew LeJune
The Guild’s annual One Poet/One Poem event starts the year off by looking back. Past Palabra Pura performers are invited to return and share a single poem or other 3-minute piece, painting a portrait in snapshots of our ongoing bi-lingual reading series and all of the styles, voices, and communities it includes.
7 p.m.
Wednesday February 20th, 2019
La Bruquena Restaurant
2nd floor
2726 W. Division, Chicago
$5 donation suggested ~ No one turned away
Appetizers will be served (full menu in restaurant downstairs)
Curated by
Mary Hawley
Confirmed readers include:
Beatriz Badikian-Gartler
Silvia Goldman
Álvaro Hernando
Dawn Herrera
Miguel López Lemus
Emilio Maldonado
Pedro Pablo Marín
Elizabeth Marino
Brian Martin
Miguel Marzana
Yolanda Nieves
Fernando Olszanski
Jan Peña-Davis
Ruben Quesada
Martha Cecilia Rivera
Nancy Romo
Xenia Ruiz
Jacob Saenz
Sandra Santiago
om ulloa
& MORE!
2018 Palabra Pura Events
Image: Dualidad, Esperanza Gama
Voces nuevas en escritura y performance
An evening dedicated to giving a voice to new voices working between and across both writing & performance and Spanish & English, followed by an open stage for poetry and performance.
Curated by:
Miguel Marzana
Featuring:
Juan Carlos Bueno (A.K.A Sr. Funko)
Pedro Pablo Marin
Miriam Roman
Nancy Romo
7 – 9 pm
Wednesday, 24 October
La Bruquena Restaurant
(2nd floor)
2726 W. Division, Chicago
Let us know you are coming on Facebook!
Curator:
Miguel Marzana. Poeta y escritor, su libro mas reciente es “Descomposiciones” dirige el taller de poesía y creación literaria de contratiempo, es coordinador del proyecto de performance poético y poesía escénica “Prohibido Leer”, es miembro del consejo editorial de la revista cultural contratiempo y forma parte del movimiento continental Cultura Viva Comunitaria. Parte de su obra ha sido traducida al inglés, árabe y catalán, vive en Chicago.
Miguel Marzana is a poet and writer, his most recent book is Descomposiciones, aceite de un cielo. Miguel is member of Contratiempo’s editorial board and the coordinator of its
literary workshop. He is also the director of the poetry and performance project “Prohibited to read.” He is part of the continental movement Cultura Viva Comunitaria. His work has been translated into English, Arabic and Catalan. He lives in Chicago.
Participants:
Juan Carlos Bueno (A.K.A Sr. Funko). Selva independiente. Juan Carlos Bueno es originario de la ciudad de México. Inicio su carrera como músico en el 2005. En el 2012, siendo coordinador artístico de la casa de cultura “Calles y Sueños” en Chicago, comenzo a experimentar con el teatro vanguardista con el proyecto “Theriac”. Combinando sus cualidades como musico y escritor Juan Carlos dio vida a “Sr. Funko”, un personaje mistico e impredecible, con el que el performer se identifica para realizar diferentes performances.
Juan Carlos Bueno (A.k.A, Mr. Funko) is originally from Mexico City. Juan Carlos started his career as a musician in 2005. In 2012, as an artistic coordinator at Calles y Sueños cultural center in Chicago, he experimented with the theatrical project “Theriac.” Combining music and writing, Juan Carlos gave life to “Mr. Funko,” a mystic and unpredictable character, with which identifies himself to realize different types of performances.
Pedro Pablo Marin. Lic. en Filosofia por la Universidad Franciscana de México. Libros publicados: De calles, rostros y jornadas, 2015. Piedras Blandas, 2017. Colaboraciones: Revista El Humo, CDMX. Le Miau Nior, Mad, España. Femme Fetal, Ros, Argentina. Musica para Camaleones, Mty, México.
Pedro Pablo Marin. Lic. in Philosophy, Franciscan University of Mexico. Books published: De calles, rostros y jornadas, 2015. Piedras Blandas, 2017.. Collaborations: El Humo magazine CDMX. Le Miau Nior, Madrid, Spain; Femme Fetal, Argentina; Music for Chameleons, Monterrey, Mexico.
Miriam Roman. Febrero, 16 1978. Cuernavaca Morelos, México. Atraída por el arte, comenzó la ardua y apasionada aventura de él teatro. Ha participado con la compañia de teatro El Quijote. Actualmente trabaja la obra Camazots con el Colectivo el Pozo.
Miriam Roman, Born: Cuernavaca, México, February 1978. Attracted by the art of acting, she began the arduous and passionate path of theater. She has participated in plays with Teatro el Quijote and is currently working on the play Camazots with Colectivo El Pozo.
Nancy Romo. Nacida en Chicago. Encontro su pasión por el Arte de actuar en los sets de Cinespace en la ciudad de los vientos. Ha participado en diferentes producciones de televisión, cine y teatro Easy, Remember Our Days, La Ley de Herodes, y El Huerto. Continúa preparándose en Repertorio Latino Theatre Company – CEA.
Nancy Romo. Born in Chicago, she found her passion for the art of acting at the CineSpace sets in the Windy City. She has participated in television productions, film, and theater: Easy, Remember Our Days, La Ley de Herodes, and El Huerto. She continues taking acting with Repertorio Latino Theater Company.
A Night in Homage to Gamaliel Ramírez (1949 – 2018)
Wednesday, June 20, 2018 from 7 – 9 pm
La Bruquena Restaurant
2726 West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois 60622
$5 suggested donation
See our Facebook event for more information.
Palabra Pura presents an evening of literature and art during Chicago’s Puerto Rican week, in memory of late Chicago Rican artist Gamaliel Ramírez. The event will feature images of the artist’s work selected by Marc Zimmerman, a reading of Puerto Rican and Latino-related materials from Zimmerman’s recent book, The Short of it All: Dreams and Scenes of Memoir Fiction (which bears a cover with art work by Gamaliel Ramirez, below), plus poetry by two of Ramirez’s friends, Johanny Vázquez Paz and Eduardo Arocho, and an open mic for readings or remembrances of Ramírez. Proceeds from sales of books, etc. will go toward a fund set up to bring Ramírez’s art work back to Chicago.
Gamaliel Ramírez (1949 – 2018). Born to Puerto Rican immigrant parents living in South Bronx, New York, Gamaliel Ramírez moved with his family to Chicago in 1955. Struggling with an undiagnosed case of dyslexima, Raírez was forced out of the school system at 16, and then decided to teach himself how to paint. As part of his education, he frequently visited the Art Institute of Chicago, to study the paintings of the standard European masters and eventually found himself drawn to U.S. and Latin American artists whose work was also accessible at the AIC. As one of Chicago’s pioneering Latino and Puerto Rican artists, Ramírez worked with numerous cultural arts organizations, curating exhibits, developing festivals, and facilitating workshops in silk-screen printing, drawing and studio and mural painting. As a founding member of the organizations ALBA and Taller, he often worked with David Hernández, Salima Rivera and other Chicago Rican poets to forge a sense of community in the face of oppression; and he became known as one of the most important Chicago Latino muralists emerging in the 1970s, often working with other artists on projects throughout the city. In his art, Ramírez often draws on cubist techniques and surrealist icons to project a view of Puerto Ricans and of other minorities in hostile urban environments. Famous for his striking self-portraits and dreamscapes, his work often combines urban and Afro-Caribbean motifs creating a cultural cosmology that both represents and awakens people to their world and their struggle. For more see event organizer Marc Zimmerman’s recent article.
Featured Artists
Marc Zimmerman is Emeritus Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the U. of Illinois Chicago. He has been the editor of LACASA CHICAGO Books since 1998, and his articles on Chicago Latino and Chicano art and literature appear regularly in Chicago’s online Journal, El BeiSMan. He has written and edited some forty books, including his award-winning Defending their Own in the Cold: The Cultural Turns of U.S. Puerto Ricans and his edited volume, Bringing Aztlán to Mexican Chicago (U. of Illinois Press 2010 and 2011). His growing number of fiction books includes Stores of Winter and Martín and Marvin: A Chicago Jewish Mexican, His Friend and their Latin Worlds, (LACASA Books 2006 and 2016)–as well as The Italian Daze, Lines on the Border, Sandino on the Border and The Short of it All (Floricanto Press 2017 and 2018).
Eduardo Arocho is a poet born and raised in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. He is the author of six chapbooks of poetry including: Hot Wings (2013), Highway Island (2008), and The 4th Tassel (2006). His work has also appeared in WE ARE by The Chicago Community Trust (2016) and Cantologia 1: Palabra Pura Poets by Pandora Lobo Estepario Press (2013), among others. In 2017, Arocho launched Bobbin Lace Press, with the goal of publishing first books for emerging Latino poets in Chicago. As a translator he performed two poems for the Brooks in Translation: A Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial Celebration at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago (2017). Arocho was a featured poet at the 2016 Gerald Manley Hopkins International Poetry Festival in Kildare, Ireland. He is currently completing work on his forthcoming poetry collection NacióMaestro.
Johanny Vázquez Paz (San Juan, Puerto Rico). Among her books are Sagrada familia (winner of the International Latino Book Award, 2015), Querido voyeur (Ediciones Torremozas), and Streetwise Poems /Poemas callejeros (Mayapple Press). On 2012 she won first prize in the poetry category at the Consenso Short Story and Poetry Contest of Northeastern Illinois University, and the second prize for her story “La muda” (The Mute). She co-edited the anthology Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest (MARCH/Abrazo Press). Her work has been included in the anthologies City of Big Shoulders, Ejército de rosas, En la 18 a la 1, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century, among others. She currently teaches Spanish at Harold Washington College in Chicago, IL.
Johanny Vázquez Paz (San Juan, Puerto Rico). Entre sus libros se encuentran Sagrada familia (ganador del International Latino Book Award en 2015), Querido voyeur (Ediciones Torremozas) y Poemas callejeros/Streetwise Poems (Mayapple Press). En 2012, recibió el primer premio en poesía en el Concurso de Cuento y Poesía Consenso de la Universidad Northeastern Illinois. Además, recibió el segundo premio en el mismo certamen por su cuento “La muda”. Coeditó la antología Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest (MARCH/Abrazo Press). Ha sido incluida en las antologías City of Big Shoulders, Ejército de rosas, En la 18 a la 1, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century y Poetas sin tregua-Compilación de poetas puertorriqueñas de la generación del 80, entre otras. Actualmente es profesora de español en Harold Washington College en Chicago, IL.
The Guild Complex is honored to kick off a season of events in memory of Gamaliel Ramírez’s life and work over the coming months, including this exhibition at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center opening on June 24th.
Poesia en Abril
April 4, 2018 from 7 – 9 pm
This event is in conjunction with DePaul University and Contratiempo.
La Bruquena Restaurant, 2726 West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois 60622
Featured Artists
om ulloa. Cuban poet, writer, translator, and freelance editor. She has lived in the U.S. since her teenage years. ulloa has published stories and “prosemas” in anthologies that include En el ojo del viento: Ficción latina del Heartland (Roosevelt University, 2004) and Cuatro cuentistas de Chicago (Ed. Vocesueltas, 2007). Her poetry and other texts has appeared in blogs and journals such as Contratiempo, Mandorla, generaciónMeX, VocesCubanas, and AfterHours. Her last two collections of poetry: palabrerías aNalfabéticas and glotOnerías y olíAteos (de florEs en cUbículos) were published in 2017.
Álvaro Hernando. Spanish poet, teacher and journalist. He has lived in Illinois since 2013. Hernando admires the exchange of ideas between creators and has made several collaborations, such as poetry and illustrations, with Berta Salvador and with the composer Enric Riu, the musical Leaving the comfort zone, at present touring in the U.S. His first book of poems, Mantras para bailar/Dancing Mantras, was published by Pandora Lobo Estepario Press (Oaxaca/Chicago 2016).
Fermina Ponce. Colombian poet and journalist. She has a degree in Communications Management from the University of La Sabana, Colombia. Ponce’s first book of poetry, Al desnudo (Oveja Negra Press) as well as Mar de (L)una (also Oveja Negra Press) were presented at the International Book Fair (Bogotá, Colombia) in 2016 and 2017 respectively, and went on to be showcased at the University of Guanajuato (Mexico), the Instituto Cervantes (Chicago), and the Festival of Latin Authors (Chicago). She has been nominated by the Colombian Consulate in Chicago for the Award The 20 Best Colombian Writers in 2017.
Febronio Zatarain. Mexican poet. He is a co-founder of contratiempo magazine. Iin 2015 he was awarded the Premio Latinoamericano de Poesía Transgresora in Mexico. He has published, Faltas a la moral (Moción Press, 1991), Desesperada intención y otros escritos (Universidad de Guadalajara Press, 1994) and Nos vinimos de mojados -with Raúl Dorantes- (UACM Press, 2007), as well as En Guadalajara fue, Veinte canciones en desamor y un poema sosegado and Febrónimos.
Check out our Facebook event for more information.