Rachel Zucker speaks with poets Javier Zamora, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, and Janine Joseph who are working to remove publication obstacles for undocumented or previously undocumented poets and writers. They speak about the work of Undocupoets, the current, constantly shifting state of U.S. immigration, the petition they started, fundraising and other actions of literary activism. They also talk about mixed-status families, “exceptionalism,” and the fear and invisibility experienced by people with insecure immigration status. They talk about writing, the hierarchy of imagery and language, memory loss, the use of “I” in their poems, ways of distancing one’s self from one’s story, whether or not they are writing since the presidential election, and the incredible usefulness of email for organizing.
EXTRA RESOURCES FOR EPISODE 22Publications by the UndocupoetsDriving Without a License by Janine Joseph (Alice James Books, 2016)
Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora (Forthcoming from Copper Canyon this September)
While Marcelo Hernandez Castillo does not yet have a book or chapbook out for purchase, we recommend reading some of his writing online, via The Paris American, PBS, The Acentos Review, Buzzfeed, Construction, and elsewhere.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead, 2008)
Nicole Sealey
Poets & Writers
Amazon Literary Partnership
University of Michigan
Academy of American Poets’ Walt Whitman Award
Jose-Antonio Vargas’s film Documented
DACA
Favianna Rodriguez
2006-07 U.S. Immigration Reform Protests and Marches
Los Angeles Marches of 2006
Emerald City [TV Series]
Want to know more? Do more?Here’s some links to get you started, thanks to Marcelo, Javier, Janine and Loma. If you donate to one of these institutions during the month of March and shares your receipt with us, we will send you a book of poetry!
Sibling Rivalry Press/Undocupoets Fellowship
The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project
The Resistance Calendar
QUIP (Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project)
Split This Rock
Kundiman
CantoMundo
Ali Forney Center
Black & Pink
Assata’s Daughters
Trans Relief Project
Detention Watch Network
The Dream.us
Episode 121: Fred Moten and Ronaldo Wilson - Part 2
Episode 120: Fred Moten and Ronaldo V. Wilson
Episode 119: Eugenia Leigh's Bianca (KTCO feed drop)
Episode 118: Laurel Snyder
Episode 117: Charif Shanahan & Safia Elhillo with Isaac Ginsberg Miller
Episode 116: The Gathered Congregation
Episode 115: Moheb Soliman
Episode 114: Live & Embodied
113: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Episode 112: Gabrielle Octavia Rucker with V Conaty
Episode 111: The Confessional Episode
Episode 110: The Poetics of Wrongness
Episode 109: Joy Harjo
Episode 108: Saeed Jones
Episode 107: Eileen Myles
Episode 106: S. Yarberry with V Conaty
Episode 105: Carl Phillips
Episode 104: The Critical Response Process with Liz Lerman & John Borstel
Episode 103: Cody-Rose Clevidence with Valentine Conaty
Episode 102: Rebekah Wolkstein
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
50 Tastes Of Gray
Dear Alice | Interior Design
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
Pollyanna
Anne of Avonlea
The Magnus Archives
The Moth