Martín Espada to Read for Katonah Poetry Series

KATONAH, N.Y. - On Sunday, Sept. 22, the Katonah Poetry Series and Katonah Village Library are honored to present award-winning poet Martín Espada. Poet Richard Blanco wrote, “Espada’s poems continue to define the role of the poet as an emotional historian. Like Whitman, Espada stirs in us an undeniable social consciousness and connectedness.” Junot Díaz calls Espada “the poet laureate of our New America, with a voice that breaks heart, gives courage, and burns all illusions.”

His most recent book of poems is Floaters, winner of the National Book Awards 2021 for Poetry. “These poems remind us of the power of observation, of seeing everything—what’s in front of us, what’s behind us both in memory and in heritage, and what we can only imagine—believing all are worthy of song, all are worthy of taking seriously within our song. This is a collection that is vital for our times and will be vital for those in the future, trying to make sense of today.”— National Book Award Citation.

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Martín Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator. His poetry collections include Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016), The Trouble Ball (2011), The Republic of Poetry (2006) and Alabanza (2003). He is the editor of What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (2019). Espada has received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the PEN/Revson Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Republic of Poetry was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The title poem of his collection Alabanza, about 9/11, has been widely anthologized and performed. His book of essays and poems, Zapata’s Disciple (1998), was banned in Tucson as part of the Mexican-American Studies Program outlawed by the state of Arizona. A former tenant lawyer in Greater Boston, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Espada will be introduced by Esmerala Santiago, who is a Puerto Rican author known for her narrative memoirs and trans-cultural writing. Her latest book is Las Madres: A Novel. Her impact extends beyond cultivating narratives as she paves the way for more coming-of-age stories about being a Latina in the United States, alongside navigating cultural dissonance through acculturation. More information at EsmeraldaSantiago.com.

The reading will begin at 4 p.m. at the Katonah Village Library, 26 Bedford Rd, Katonah, NY 10536, and will be followed by a brief Q & A. Both authors’ books will be available for sale.

The Katonah Poetry Series has been showcasing the world’s best poets for more than 50 years. Your donations ensure the continuity of our mission: bringing the world’s best poets here to read. Please donate here: tinyurl.com/mrycdm3u.

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