Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival

First -- writing advice from the back of a pencil.

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The following is a press release from Metropolitan State University of Denver, Chicana/Chicano Studies (with some edits and additions from me.)

Metropolitan State University of Denver, Chicana/o Studies Department invites the community to the 12th Annual Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival -- Thursday April 4, 2019 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. at the St. Cajetans Center, on the Auraria Campus, Denver. 

This year’s theme: Raices Y Alas: Looking Back and Moving Forward ~ Roots and Wings: Looking Back and Moving Forward will center on social action through poetry.

Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado

Lalo Delgado is remembered as Colorado’s social justice poet and considered the National Grandfather of Chicano Poetry.  Among many other awards and recognition, Delgado received a Civil Rights Award from Rosa Parks, Scholar/Elder of the Civil Rights Movement who worked with Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez to support thousands of migrant farm workers in the Unites States.  Lalo was originally from El Paso Texas, but he eventually made Denver his family's home.  His numerous publications include the seminal poem Stupid America, regarded as a masterpiece of Chicano thought and a powerful example of resistance poetry.

Ariana Brown

The 2019 Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival will feature nationally recognized poet: Ariana Brown.  Brown is a poet from San Antonio, Texas, with a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies. She is the recipient of two Academy of American Poets Prizes and a 2014 collegiate national poetry slam champion. Ariana, who has been dubbed a “part-time curandera,” is primarily interested in using poetry to validate Black girl rage, in all its miraculous forms. Follow her work online at arianabrown.com or on Twitter & Instagram @arianathepoet.  

Eden Nicole

Lalo’s Poetry Festival also welcomes Denver’s own Eden Nicole.  Eden merges her inspirations from her three sons with her indigenous roots and environmental activism to create her spoken word. Eden has various works published through Café Cultura, Red Rising Magazine in Canada and she has been showcased in the Cuatro: A Series of Artist Interactions with the Denver Art Museum (2017), amongst many other events throughout the Denver Metro area. Through Groupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca, Medicine Heart Dancers, and the Indigenous Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ communities, she is teaching her sons the traditions of their people; while also pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Engineering and Hydrology. 

Ana Duran, Lalo’s eldest daughter, welcomes the poetry recited by Lalo’s great grandchildren.  

The festival opening at 9 a.m. begins with a blessing ceremony by Aztec Troupe Huitzilopochtli, followed by a free continental breakfast and lunch.  The event is free and open to the public. Sponsors include MSU Presidents Office of Institutional Diversity: Chicana/o Studies, GITA, Student Activities and CU Denver Latinx Services.

For more information, please contact Christina M. Sigala at selim@msudenver.edu 

Later.

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Manuel Ramos writes crime fiction.  His latest is The Golden Havana Night (Arte Público Press.)