March Sessions of Latino Poetry and Crafting

Las Cruces Public Libraries continues sessions of Palabras y Artesanias (Words and Crafts). Upcoming sessions take place at 4 p.m. in the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library Boardroom, 200 E. Picacho Avenue, on selected Tuesdays through April 2025.

The next session is at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, and focuses on the theme of first and second homes. Many Latino poets have explored what it means to live in the U.S. while retaining, over many generations, deep connections to an ancestral homeland. The craft for the session is Talavera clay decorations for the home. We will provide a clay vessel and teach the techniques and patterns common to Talavera painting.

The following session is at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, and focuses on the theme of family and community. Latino poets explore the effects of migration, generational change, and other circumstances on common traditions. The craft for the session is hojalatas repujado en aluminio, etching in tin, which originated in colonial Mexico. Many hojalatas are in the form of hands and hearts symbolizing the hopes and dreams of our ancestors.

Registration is required for each session (register individually and get more information for each of the remaining sessions with the links below).

• First and second homes
• Family and community
• Music and performance
• Labor
• Earth and Myth

In a past session teaching tenango embroidery, participant Linda Galván commented, “It was a fun event, and we also got our very own hats with stitching instruction and supplies included. We all stitched while listening to poetry. I loved everything about it!”

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.

Please contact Mindy Del Campo, Librarian, at (575) 528-4024 or by email at adelcampo@lascruces.gov. if a Spanish translator is needed to participate.

This document can be made available in alternative formats by calling (575) 528-4102/ TTY 711. If you require accommodation for a disability to participate in this event, call the library at (575) 528-4102/711 at least 48 hours in advance.