Panel Discussion: Festival de la Palabra en Nueva York

Five prominent writers from Puerto Rico—Alejandro Alvarez, Awilda Cáez, José Rabelo Cartagena, Yara Liceaga, and Carlos Vázquez-Cruz—will engage in a discussion on currents and anticipated directions in Latin American literature. Moderated by José Simián of NY1.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the international Festival de Palabra. Launched in 2010 in San Juan and expanded to New York in 2011, the Festival is presented annually in both locations and features writers from throughout the continent in discussions, readings, and book presentations. The goals of the Festival de la Palabra are the internationalization of Puerto Rico and the promotion of reading as well as a better understanding of Puerto Ricans through literature.

This panel is hosted by the Americas Society in collaboration with the New York Public Library and Festival de la Palabra. In Spanish.

Click here to view the entire schedule of the Festival de la Palabra en Nueva York.

Event Information: Jose Negroni | jnegroni@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8353

Alejandro Álvarez (Puerto Rico, 1976) is a poet, novelist and translator. He began his undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico. He then completed a Master's Degree in Translation at the same university in 2006, where he now teaches. He is currently in the final stages of a PhD in Translation at the University of Salamanca. His poetry collection, El proceso traductor won the Certamen de Poesía El Nuevo Día award in 2011. Currently he is putting the final touches on a book of short stories and his first novel.

Awilda Cáez was born in 1972. Her book of short stories, Adiós, Mariana y otras despedidas, was selected by El Nuevo Día as one of the best books of 2010. She was chosen by CARAS in 2011 as one of seven rising Puerto Rican artists. She is the co-founder of Editorial Pasadizo and has for the past five years been its editor-at-large.

José A. Rabelo Cartagena (1963) was born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico. A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey, Letters to Datovia, published by Isla Negra Editores in 2009, was his first adult novel, about which the writer Marta Aponte Alsina commented: "The author proposes, in the manner of Swift, a parallel and autonomous republic, equipped with all the marks of a culture: from bureaucratic postal services to readings and rituals of eroticism."

Yara Liceaga (Puerto Rico, 1977) since 2010 has curated and coordinated multi-media and multi-disciplinary readings at Poetry Is Busy. She’s collaborated as a columnist for the op-ed page of El Nuevo Día. She is currently pursuing an MBA and Cultural Management at the University of Puerto Rico. Her book El mundo no es otra cosa (La secta de los perros) was realeased in 2014.

Carlos Vázquez Cruz (Puerto Rico, 1971) is founding member of "El Sótano 00931." He earned a MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish from New York University, where he was awarded the Banco Santander Spanish Creative Writing Fellowship. His publications include: Inimaginado (poetry-stories-essays, 2003), 8% de desk-cuentos (stories, 2006; re-published as Asado a las doce in 2011), Dos centímetros de mar (novel, 2008), La mirilla y la muralla: el estado crítico (critic, 2009), Sencilla mente (poetry, 2010), and Malacostumbrismo (stories, 2012).

José Simián (1975) is a New York-based bilingual writer, producer and reporter. His articles and columns on politics, media and culture have been published by the New York Daily News, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated Latino, Billboard en Español, Latina, Qué Pasa, Etiqueta Negra, La Tercera and El Mercurio. He is also the host and producer of Contraportada, a weekly interview segment with Latino artists and intellectuals on 24-hour news cable station NY1 Noticias, and Executive Editor of Manero.