Emmy Pérez

Emmy Pérez is a Chicanx poet and writer originally from Santa Ana, California, United States. She was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship in 2017.^[1] She has lived in the borderlands of Texas since 2000, where she has taught creative writing in college and MFA programs, as well as in detention facilities and as part of social justice projects.^[2] Her latest collective is Poets Against the Border Wall.^[3] She was also a fellow (2010–12) and organizing committee member of CantoMundo (2018–19)^[4] and is a long-time member of Macondo Writers Workshop.^[5]

Emmy Pérez
Genre	Poetry Chicanx Literature
Subject	borderlands
Notable works	With the River on Our Face
Website
emmyperez.com/about.html

She is best known for her collections, With the River on Our Face and Solstice.^[2]

She received the 2009 Alfredo Cisneros del Moral award for her writing, an award started by Sandra Cisneros.^[6][7] Previously, she received the James D. Phelan Literary Award from the San Francisco Foundation.^[4]

In 2019, she was named the Poet Laureate for Texas for 2020.^[8] She began her stewardship in March 2020.^[9]

Biography and reception

She graduated from University of Southern California with an undergraduate degree, and received her MFA from Columbia University.^[2] She teaches at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley^[10] where she is a full professor. She served as the associate director for the Center of Mexican Studies,^[11] and she currently serves as the chair of the Creative Writing Department.^[12]

When she was named Poet Laureate of Texas for 2020, State Representative John Cyrier said:

"The great talents of the 2019-2020 State Artists, along with all of those who were nominated, help contribute to a distinctive cultural identity that makes Texas a great place to live, work and visit. It is important that we celebrate the distinguished career achievements of these artists which have enhanced the lives of so many.”^[13]

She has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and fellowships, including, but not limited to: the New York Foundation for the Arts,^[14] the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown,^[15] and the Ucross Foundation.^[16]

Bibliography

Pérez has written two books, With the River on Our Face and Solstice.^[2] With the River on Our Face is a poetry collection book written about Texas' Southwest borderlands.^[17][18] Each poem in the book talks about the life in the south borders of Texas along the Rio Grande Valley and how lives are affected by politics and global forces.^[19]

Works

Collections

• With the River on Our Face Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, 2016. ISBN 9780816533442, OCLC 939911179
• Solstice Sacramento, CA : Swan Scythe Press, 2011. ISBN 9781930454316, OCLC 795631917

Poems

• [No Strawberry Moon] from Poem a Day with audio No Strawberry Moon
• Not One More Refugee Death at the Poetry Foundation website. Not one more refugee death
• Downriver Río Grande Ghazalion from With the River on Our Face Downriver Río Grande Ghazalion
• Halladay Street from Solstice Halladay Street
• NEA for Poetry List 2017 NEA fellows
• Texas Poets Laureate list Texas poets laureate
• CantoMundo Organizing Committee CantoMundo 2017-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
• Alfredo Cisneros de Moral Writing Award 2009 Cisneros Writing Award 2019

References

1. . National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on 2019-07-22.
2. "Emmy Pérez". Poetry Foundation. 2019-09-27. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
3. "Poetry Against the Border Wall". Literary Hub. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
4. "Emmy Pérez". Texas Commission on the Arts. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
5. . Canto Mundo. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
6. Bennett, Steve (28 January 2010). . Weekender 24/7. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
7. "About". Emmy Pérez. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
8. "Fountain, Pérez named next Poets Laureate of Texas". Lone Star Literary Life. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
9. . Texas Woman's University. Archived from the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
10. "Laura Emma Perez". The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
11. . The University of Texas Rio grande Valley. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
12. "Creative Writing Department". The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's Creative Writing Department. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
13. "Fountain, Pérez named next Poets Laureate of Texas". Lone Star Literary Life. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
14. "New York Foundation for the Arts Directory of Fellows" (PDF). New York Foundation for the Arts.
15. "Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Inc", The Grants Register 2019, Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2018-11-13, p. 320, doi:10.1007/978-1-349-95810-8_484, ISBN 9781349958092
16. . Ucross Foundation. Archived from the original on 12 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
17. Bowles, David (August 26, 2016). "TOP SHELF: Highways and the River". The Monitor. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
18. Hoffert, Barbara (17 October 2016). "Top Fall Poetry: Great Reading Beyond the Basics from Veterans and Newcomers Alike". The Library Journal. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
19. "With the River on Our Face". UAPress. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 2018-10-26.

External links

• Official website
• Breaking Open Gates: A Conversation with Emmy Pérez, World Literature Today, January 2018
• Poetry Against the Border Wall: Aracelis Girmay and Emmy Perez in Conversation Arizona Press Poetry Against the Border Wall Aracelis Girmay and Emmy Pérez in Conversation