January 30, 2014 Poets Valerie Martínez and Brenda Cárdenas To Discuss Relationship Between Poetry and Visual Art, Feb. 14

The Poetry and Literature Center and the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress will present a panel discussion on the relationship between poetry and visual art, with poets Brenda Cárdenas and Valerie Martínez, on Feb. 14.

The event will take place at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. It is free and open to the public. Tickets are not needed.

The talk will be presented in partnership with Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute of Latino Studies of the University of Notre Dame. The program is part of “PINTURA: PALABRA, A Project in Ekphrasis,” an initiative that bridges the work of prominent Latino poets and authors with visual artists and fosters an engaging dialogue across disciplines.

Cárdenas and Martínez will give a joint presentation featuring a wide range of ekphrastic poems and visual art, and will follow with a moderated discussion and audience Q&A.

Cárdenas, a native of Milwaukee and an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is the author of the two poetry collections, “From the Tongues of Brick and Stone” and “Boomerang,” and co-editor of “Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest.”

Martínez, a poet, translator, and playwright from Santa Fe, N.M., is the author of three books of poetry: “Absence, Luminescent” (1999), “World to World” (2004), “And They Called It Horizon” (2010); the limited-edition chapbook “This is How it Began” (2010); and the book-length poem, “Each and Her” (2010). She has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the William Carlos Williams Award.

A book signing will follow the presentation. The titles “Each and Her” by Martínez and “Boomerang” by Cárdenas will be available for sale at the program.

The morning of the event, the poets will also record for the Library’s Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape. This archive now holds audio readings by nearly 700 writers from Spain, Latin America and the United States.

The Hispanic Division, established in 1939 is the Library’s center for the study of the culture and societies of Latin America, the Caribbean, the Iberian Peninsula and Hispanics and Latinos in the United States, and other areas where Spanish or Portuguese influence exists. For more information about the Hispanic Reading Room and the Hispanic collections visit www.loc.gov/rr/Hispanic.

The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress fosters and enhances the public’s appreciation of literature. The center administers an endowed poetry chair, the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, and coordinates an annual literary season of poetry, fiction and drama readings, performances, lectures and symposia, sponsored by the Library’s Gertrude Clarke Whittall Poetry and Literature Fund and the Huntington Fund. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/poetry.

Letras Latinas is the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. It seeks to enhance the visibility, appreciation and study of Latino literature both on and off campus, with a focus on projects that identify and support newer voices.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 158 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov.