In celebration of the nation’s poet, Juan Felipe Herrera
By hola | Published | No Comments
Renowned poet Juan Felipe Herrera was in Washington, D.C. last week for celebrations marking the end of his term as the United States Poet Laureate. Hola Cultura caught the festivities at the Library of Congress on April 26. It was a stirring and inspirational evening during which the nation’s official poet read from his prolific work, sang, danced, and ruminated on the power of words to transform lives.
The two-hour event began with a performance by the Fresno State Chamber Singers, who flew in from Herrera’s hometown in California. Before the evening ended, the audience was dancing and singing in the aisles, along with Grammy Award-winning East Los Angeles rock band, Quetzal. The mutual appreciation between the crowd and Herrera created joyous energy. At its center was the poet, who joined Quetzal on stage several times to the delight of the audience.
Herrera, who has held the highest poetry honor in the U.S. since 2015, also shared poems, stories and insights with the audience and a panel of guests who included Hugo Morales, the founder and Executive Director of Radio Bilingüe; UCLA professor Rafael Pérez-Torres; and musicians Martha González, lead singer of Quetzal; and Louie Pérez, a founding member of the legendary band, Los Lobos.
Herrera explained the indirect route that led him to poetry in the early 1970s, a time when the Chicano Civil Rights Movement was in full swing, inspiring a generation to activism.
“It wasn’t about writing poetry. It was about speaking up,” said Herrera, echoing a theme struck repeatedly throughout the event.
Morales recalled how farm workers provided the inspiration for what would become Radio Bilingüe. Pérez recalled how Los Lobos began in East Los Angeles in 1973, when he and a few friends decided to set down their electric guitars and play Mexican music that honored their roots. González, who represents a younger generation, discussed how Herrera, the other panelists and Chicano leaders of their generation had provided examples of what she could become and opportunity for her own creative endeavors.
We had so much fun we made this video.
About Juan Felipe Herrera
The National Poetry Month event marked the end of Herrera’s second term as U.S. Poet Laureate. To learn more about Herrera, here is a research file put together by Hola Cultura intern Maria Carrasco.
Juan Felipe Herrera is the son of migrant farm workers. He studied at the University of California Los Angeles and Stanford University. Some of his most notable works include “187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971-2007,” “Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems” and “Border-Crosser with a Lamborghini Dream.”
Besides poetry, Herrera writes children’s books, some of his works including “Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes,” “SkateFate” and “Calling The Doves.”
In 2015, after Herrera was named the Poet Laureate by the United States Poet Laureate, he launched a project called La Casa de Colores. This project has two parts, one called La Familia, in which citizens may contribute to an epic poem. In the second part, El Jardin, Herrera will “share my experiences with curators at the Library of Congress.”
In a 2015 New York Times profile, Herrera speaks about the honor of being the 2015 Poet Laureate. Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress Emeritus, told The New York Times why Herrera was chosen.
“I see in Herrera’s poems the work of an American original — work that takes the sublimity and largess of ‘Leaves of Grass’ and expands upon it,” Billington said. “His poems engage in a serious sense of play.”
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