8 Latine Poets to Celebrate During National Poetry Month
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I always feel like I’m cheating when I talk about National Book Award winner Elizabeth Acevedo, certainly no one needs to tell me about her at this point. Then again, I feel the same way about a lot of writers and poets, and if this list leads even a handful of people to discover their work for the first time, I’ll be thrilled.
You can start with her YA novels in verse poet x And clap when you land Or her YA novels in prose, with high fire. is her brilliant 2023 adult debut novel, family loreor his most famous spoken word poem, Heritage. It seems a bit obvious to say that a poet has a way with words, but Acevedo does just that: her language is both rhythmic and raw, her characters are fully fleshed out, flawed, and relatable, and she explores themes like religion, sexuality, identity, and cultural expectations. If you count how many times Vanessa will say she wishes a book had been around when she was younger, playing drinking games, bottoms up! Since I cannot put his books into the hands of our young people, the old ones will have to do much of the work.
Mark your calendars: Acevedo is back this year with a YA novel in verse. anger is only a shadow Unveiling in September, the story of a rebellious and loyal teenager who can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong with his older brother.