University Showcase 10/20 8a: On this episode, a new anthology of New Mexico poets highlights themes of community, culture, history and landscape. We talk with Associate Professor Levi Romero and his co-editor, Poet Michelle Otero, about the collection, "New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023."And we revisit an interview from last year with filmmaker turned author Ramona Emerson about her debut novel “Shutter.”
There will be readings from the anthology on October 29 at the Albuquerque Museum from 1 to 3 p.m.
Levi Romero was New Mexico’s first poet laureate. He is also a professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at the University of New Mexico. His most recent book is the co-edited anthology, “Querencia: Reflections on the New Mexico Homeland. His two collections of poetry are A Poetry of Remembrance: New and Rejected Works and In the Gathering of Silence.”
Michelle Otero is a former poet laureate of Albuquerque. She’s the author of “Malinche's Daughter,” an essay collection based on her work with women survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Oaxaca, Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow, and Bosque: Poems from University of New Mexico Press, a collection written during her poet laureate tenure.
Ramona Emersonis a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi New Mexico. She is also a University of New Mexico alum, graduating in 1997 with a degree in Media Arts. Emerson also has an MFA in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. She has made seven films, but in 2022 published her first novel “Shutter” – which follows Rita, a Diné woman who works as a forensic photographer capturing gruesome crime scenes for the Albuquerque Police Department, and who also struggles with the ghosts from those crimes who want justice. It was long listed for the National Book Award.
