Francisco X. Alarcón

Francisco X. Alarcón and Devreaux Baker

11 JUNE 2015 — thursday

Poetry Flash presents a reading by Francisco X. Alarcón and Devreaux Baker, hosted by Richard Silberg, request ASL interpreters one week in advance from editor@poetryflash.org, wheelchair accessible, Moe's Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, 7:30 (510/849-2087, www.moesbooks.com)

MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Francisco X. Alarcón's new book of poems is Borderless Butterflies/Mariposas sin fronteras. Dorianne Laux says, "Francisco Alarcón's newest book is a silken thread strung with poems that bump up against one another, creating tremors of electricity, a litany of the brown peoples and poets of the Americas, dedications to those who have fought and are still fighting for justice and peace." As in this book, much of his writing is bilingual, in both English and Spanish, and on occasion trilingual, including Nahuatl, language of the Aztecs. He has authored at least twelve books of poetry, including Canto hondo/Deep Song, From the Other Side of the Night/Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems, and Body in Flames. He was honored with the Northern California Book Awards' Fred Cody Award for lifetime achievement and service and is also the award-winning author of six bilingual books of poems for children.
Devreaux Baker's new book of poems is out of the bones of the earth. Pamela Uschuk says, "…out of the bones of the earth is a fiery mélange of longing and grief, of body scars and scars from wars leavened by dreams, the balm of the natural world, and love…Anchoring her poems, evocative imagery links great issues like climate change and disease with war…Baker's is a powerful voice, a wise voice. Listen closely." She has published three previous collections, including Red Willow People, winner of a PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Poetry Award. Other honors include the 2014 Barbara Mandigo Kelley Poetry Peace Prize from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the Women's Global Leadership Poetry Prize. She also directed the Mendocino Coast Poets Reading Series.