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 81: Commonplace goes to Taiwan, Part 2
Episode 80: Commonplace goes to Taiwan, Part 1
Episode 79: Christine Larusso
Episode 78: Anne Boyer
Episode 77: Tina Chang
Episode 76: Ada Limón
Episode 75: Victoria Chang
Episode 74: Rachel Zucker's SoundMachine
Episode 73: Jennifer Croft (Translation Series Ep. 3)
Episode 72: Ilya Kaminsky
Episode 71: Mira Jacob
Episode 70: Alicia Jo Rabins
Episode 69: Live Reading with Brown, Joseph, Meitner Parker, Pico, Tolbert, and Yanyi
Episode 68: Live Reading w/ Calvocoressi, Falkner, Gay and Mark
Episode 67: John Biewen
Episode 66: Sarah Gambito
Episode 65: Hillary Frank
Episode 64: John Keene (Translation Series, Ep. 2)
Episode 63: Juliana Spahr
Episode 62: Khadijah Queen
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