Latino Poetry – Places We Call Home: Exploring Latino Heritage through Poetry and Crafting

Las Cruces Public Libraries is holding a series of poetry discussions/crafting sessions called Palabras y Artesanias (Words and Crafts). The first session will begin at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, 200 E. Picacho Avenue. Registration is required for each session and is now open.

This series is funded by the Latino Poetry – Places We Call Home grant, a project to foster nationwide conversations through a groundbreaking new poetry anthology.

The anthology is divided into eight themes:

• Ancestry and Identity
• Language
• Voice and resistance
• First and second homes
• Family and community
• Music and performance
• Labor
• Earth and Myth

The January 14, 2025, session reflects the theme of Ancestry & Identity. The Latin American diaspora is large and multifaceted, and the work of Latino poets reflects a rich variety of cultures, histories, and communities. The craft for the first session is to design your own Lucha Libre mask. The colorful masks worn by luchadores became a symbol of their personas, allowing them to embody larger-than-life characters that resonate with fans. We will provide a masked hood for each participant and guide them to work with leather to create a personalized mask.

Additional sessions of this series will take place beginning at 4 p.m. on select Tuesdays through April at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library. You can find more information about the eight-session series on the library events calendar or click on the link to each session above.

We invite you to read the poems that reflect the session themes within the anthology prior to the session. Copies of the selected poems for the session will be available online through the events calendar link, and at Las Cruces Public Libraries Picacho Avenue location.

This program is presented as part of Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, a major public humanities initiative taking place across the nation in 2024 and 2025, directed by Library of America and funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective.

For information, contact Mindy Del Campo, Librarian, at (575) 528-4024 or by email at [email protected].

This document can be made available in alternative formats by calling (575) 528-4102 (Voice). If you require accommodation for a disability to participate in this event, call the library at (575) 528-4102 (Voice) at least 48 hours in advance.