José Olivarez

Wisconsin Book Festival: Discussing "Promises of Gold," poetry collection.

media release: How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love—but what about our friends? Those homies who are there all along—cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant.

In this groundbreaking collection of poems, José Olivarez explores every kind of love—self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural. Grappling with the contradictions of the American Dream with unflinching humanity, he lays bare the ways in which “love is complicated by forces larger than our hearts.” 

Whether readers enter this collection in English or via the Spanish translation by poet David Ruano, these extraordinary poems are sure to become beloved for their illuminations of life—and love. 

¿Cuántas malas parejas han inspirado poemas? ¿Cuántos crush es? Sin faltarle el respeto al amor romántico—pero ¿qué hay de los amigos? Esos compas que están ahí todo el tiempo—animándonos y recordándonos que elamor es abundante”.