Vancouver Writers Fest 2022: Claudia Castro Luna contextualizes the Salvadorian immigrant experience through poetry
The prolific writer takes part in The Poetry Bash and Latin American Brilliance
Claudia Castro Luna
Vancouver Writers Fest (October 17 to 23) presents Claudio Castro Luna in two events: and part of Latin American Brilliance, co-presented by Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre, on October 19 at 19 at 8 pm at Revue Stage; ;and as part of The Poetry Bash on October 21 at 8:30 pm at Performance Works
CLAUDIA CASTRO LUNA was 14 years old when she moved to the United States in 1981 during the peak of the civil war of El Salvador. To this day, she is untangling the effects of that experience, the terror and the silencing that stemmed from that period, through her writing.
Castro Luna didn’t speak a word of English when she left home. A poet, writer, teacher, and speaker, Luna has gone on to become an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), Washington State Poet Laureate (2018 to 2021), and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet (2015 to 2018). She teaches at Seattle University, while her writing portfolio includes One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press); the Pushcart-nominated Killing Marías (Two Sylvias Press); the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press); and the non-fiction There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis (Vintage).
Her latest release, Cipota Under the Moon (Tia Chucha Press), a poetry collection that spans a decade, reflects on the Salvadoran immigrant experience in the United States.
“It’s really my first book of poems; it’s almost like a memoir,” Castro Luna tells Stir. “It’s a very personal book.
“I begin the book with my experience as a girl in the middle of this war in El Salvador,” she explains. “And the book traverses my experience of living in the U.S. as a Salvadorian immigrant. So there’s a moment in the book where the war that I'm speaking of becomes the war on the streets—the ongoing war that brown and black people endure…right here in the United States.”
Castro Luna is among the notable international names appearing at the 2022 Vancouver Writers Fest.
She’s one of seven artists participating in the fest’s signature The Poetry Bash, which also features readings by Threa Almontaser, winner of the Maya Angelou Book Award (The Wild Fox of Yemen); Andrew Faulkner, author of Heady Bloom, a “buddy cop dramedy poetry collection”; New Zealand poet Tayi Tibble, whose Poūkahangatus is a powerful, intimate exploration of life as an Indigenous woman; Alexandra Oliver, whose Hail, the Invisible Watchman is a snapshot of the “suburban uncanny”; and ReLit Award-winner Charlie Petch (Why I Was Late). Billeh Nickerson hosts.
Castro Luna is also taking part in Latin American Brilliance, which sees Vancouver Writers Fest partner with Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre for the first time. The event is part of VLACC’s Latin Expressions, a multidisciplinary celebration of Latin American Heritage Month. Moderated by Carmen Rodríguez, Latin American Brilliance also features Natalia García Freire (This World Does Not Belong to Us), who will be joining virtually. The authors will discuss topics such as overcoming the odds, the craft of writing itself, and up-and-coming Latin American authors.
Castro Luna shares that at The Poetry Bash, she will read one of her favourite poems, “Vía Láctea”, which includes the lines: “Te dejo con un par de maracas pa’que acompañés a los muertos en su procesión y para que animés a los vivos en sus duelos./You are not alone. I am with you, here, naked, holding my baby teeth in a plastic bag, my back against the tree’s rough bark…”
“I really play with both languages on the page and invite the reader to come along with me on this journey,” Castro Luna says of the poem. “The book [Cipota under the Moon] takes this very large arc, in a very condensed way, which only poetry could do. So I think it was the perfect vehicle to explore these big themes and the span of time in a very condensed way.”
Related Articles
