Dan Vera | |
---|---|
Born | South Texas |
Occupation | Poet, Editor |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Poetry |
Website | |
danvera |
Dan Vera (born South Texas) is an American poet and editor.[1]
Career
Vera is the author of Speaking Wiri Wiri, (Red Hen Press, 2013)[2] and The Space Between Our Danger and Delight, (Beothuk Books, 2009). His manuscript The Guide to Imaginary Monuments was selected by Orlando Ricardo Menes for the 2012 Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize[3] and published as Speaking Wiri Wiri.[2] In 2014, he was named one of LatinoStories.com's "Top 10 'New' Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)", calling him "a talented, sophisticated poet who is a master at playing with words".[4] In 2017, he was the recipient of the Oscar Wilde Award for LGBT poetry.[5]
His work has appeared in The American Prospect, Foreign Policy in Focus, ''Poet Lore, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Notre Dame Review, Delaware Poetry Review, Gargoyle Magazine, Konch, and Red Wheelbarrow.[6]
Vera's poetry blends English and Spanish. As he explains:
I love the English language. And I think one of the things that I love about the English language is the permeability of English to not only accept but also struggle with the incorporation of other languages like Spanish. So when I write, I'm constantly going back and forth between these two possible ways of articulating the world around me.[7]
Vera is poetry editor of Origins Journal[8] and past Managing Editor of White Crane.[8] He publishes other poets through Vrzhu Press and Souvenir Spoon Books.[9] Vera is the co-editor, with ire'ne lara silva, of an essay anthology about Gloria Anzaldúa, Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, (Aunt Lute Books, 2016).[10]
He founded Brookland Area Writers & Artists and serves on the boards of Split This Rock Poetry and Rainbow History Project.[11][12] His work as co-editor with Kim Roberts of the literary history site D.C. Writers' Homes was part of his effort to get to know Washington D.C.:
I was just really fascinated to discover that writing and writers had existed in D.C. before me. I live in the Brookland neighborhood, and was fascinated to find out that Sterling Brown lived a few blocks from me and wanted to know more about him — that kind of started a progression of interest in writers, playwrights and poets and novelists who called Washington home.[7]
Vera is a member of the prestigious Macondo Writers Workshop, the workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros.[13] and a fellow of the CantoMundo Poetry Workshop.
Personal life
He lives in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[11]
Works
Poetry collections
- Speaking Wiri Wiri. Red Hen Press. March 2013. ISBN 978-1-59709-274-6.
- The Space Between Our Danger and Delight. Beothuk Books. March 28, 2009. ISBN 978-0-615-25371-8.
Poetry in anthologies
- Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. 2018. ISBN 978-0820353159.
- The Traveler's Vade Mecum. Red Hen Press. October 10, 2016. ISBN 978-1597092241.
- The Queer South: LGBTQ Writers on the American South. Sibling Rivalry Press. September 16, 2014. ISBN 978-1-937420-80-2.
- Divining Divas: 100 Gay Men on their Muses. Lethe Press.
- Gratitude Prayers. Andrews McMeel. February 2013. ISBN 978-1449421762.
- Full Moon On K Street: Poems About Washington, DC. Plan B Press. December 1, 2010.
- Dog Blessings. New World Library. October 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57731-616-9.
- D.C. Poets Against The War. Argonne House Press. 2004. ISBN 1-887641-98-X.
As editor
- Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands. Aunt Lute Books. 2016. ISBN 9781879960930., with ire'ne lara silva and an introduction by United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera
- A Prophet in His Own Land: A Malcolm Boyd Reader. White Crane Wisdom. 2008. ISBN 978-1590210116., with Malcolm Boyd and Bo Young
External links
- Official website
- Interview on "Artworks" podcast, May 2015, National Endowment for the Arts
- Interview with Jonathan Wilson, WAMU's "Metro Connection"
- poem on Beltway Poetry Quarterly
- "About page", DC Writers' Homes, archived from the original on 2014-12-05, retrieved 2014-09-20
References
- ↑ Dan Vera | Directory of Writers | Poets & Writers
- 1 2 Speaking Wiri Wiri | Red Hen Press
- ↑ Poetry Foundation blog
- ↑ "2014 Top Ten "New" Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)". LatinoStories.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ↑ Arlington Literary Journal, Issue 100, 2017 http://216.197.126.12/arlijo/index.cfm?issue=100
- ↑ Author page on Poets and Writers http://www.pw.org/content/dan_vera
- 1 2 Wilson, Jonathan (27 September 2013). "Bookend: Poet Dan Vera Blends Spanish, English Influences In Latest Work". Metro Connection. WAMU 88.5 American University Radio. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- 1 2 "Masthead".
- ↑ Dan Vera biography
- ↑ "Juan Felipe Herrera, Imaniman, and Gloria Anzaldúa", Aunt Lute Books website, April 2016 http://auntlute.com/7878/new_release/juan-felipe-herrera-imaniman-and-gloria-anzaldua/ Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 Taub, Yermiyahu Ahron. "Poet Dan Vera Finds a Home in Brookland". Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ↑ "members". brookland area writers & artists. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012.
- ↑ "Macondo: About – Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center". Archived from the original on 2017-03-04. Retrieved 2017-03-03.