Un Cafecito with Chicana Poetry

Four area poets — Angie Trudell Vasquez, Araceli Esparza, Melanie Hernandez and Dana Maya — will read from their works celebrating Chicana voices. The event is made possible by a grant from the Library of America, which has just released a major new poetry anthology, Latino Poetry. Vasquez was most recently the city of Madison poet laureate (2020-2024); Esparza is a poet and anthology editor; Hernandez is the author of a poetry series titled “A Chicana’s Lens” and comes to Madison from Oconomowoc; and Maya is a poet and essayist involved with the Spontaneous Writing Booth Collective. The reading is followed by an open mic.

media release: Join us for an inspiring evening as Midwest Mujeres Inc. celebrates a prestigious grant from the Library of America's Latino Poetry Initiative and Anthology! A two part community event, come for a reading with local Chicana poets followed by an open mic open to all audience members! Featured poets include Angie Trudell Vasquez, Araceli Esparza, Melanie Hernandez, and Dana Maya. The poets will read from the anthology Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home

This initiative invites participants into a nationwide conversation about Latino poetry, celebrating its distinctive rhythms, candor, and lyricism. The book engages deeply with historical and mythic pasts, the complexities of language, land, and identity, and envisions a nation enriched by the stories of immigrants, exiles, refugees, and their descendants. Presented by the Library of America, this project is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective.

About the Contributors

Angela (Angie) Trudell Vasquez was the city of Madison Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2024. The first Latina to hold the position she received her MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2017. In Light, Always Light, her third collection of poetry came out in 2019, and her fourth, My People Redux, was published in 2022 both from Finishing Line Press. My People Redux won first place in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poet’s annual chapbook contest in 2023 among other accolades.  

Araceli Esparza is a published, award-winning Bilingual Chicana Poeta. Araceli’s work has been published in several anthologies and journals, and you can hear her poetry in the Wisconsin Life archives. Pushcart Nominee twice! She is an MFA graduate from Hamline University. Araceli was born and raised in Madison, WI; her parents were migrant farmworkers from Guanajuato, Mexico, from whom she still gathers her strength. Araceli recently co-edited a poetry anthology with Flying Ketchup Press, The Very Edge Poems. Follow her on Instagram @araceliesparza_speaker for more writing classes and events! www.araceliesparza.com

Melanie Hernandez, a self-published author from Alice, Texas, holds a masters degree in curriculum & instruction and has served as an educator for over 20 years. Currently, she is a Family Engagement Facilitator in the Oconomowoc Area School District. She is an author of educational books, journals, and a poetry series titled "A Chicana’s Lens." Melanie’s love for her Mexican-American heritage and the unique experiences of growing up in a small South Texas town serve as the inspiration for much of her work. Feel free to follow her at https://linktr.ee/learnwithmelhern

Poet, essayist, and teacher Dana Maya descends from a line of single Mexican mothers. She has taught literature and writing and collaborated with artists on projects for social change for three decades. Her award-winning work, which crosses linguistic and artistic borders, can be found in Basta: 100+ Latinas against Gender Violence, three volumes of Writing the Land, and on screens, museums, and other public sites. She writes with the Spontaneous Writing Booth Collective and coordinates poema: pintura, an ekphrastic writing project. She is at work on a memoir in poems called Lineage / Linaje.  

This is an in person event at A Room of One's Own.