Seattle Poet Claudia Castro Luna Hosts a Bilingual Program Series at the Seattle Public Library

Join award-winning poet Claudia Castro Luna for a bilingual spring program series at The Seattle Public Library that explores how we can keep creativity alive. The former Washington State Poet Laureate Castro Luna guest-curated the series, which kicks off with a program called “Creativity Everyday / Creatividad Cotidiana,” which explores cultural practices around creativity.

The three programs examine different aspects of creativity with guest artists including dancer Milvia Pacheco, founder of Movimiento Afro-Latino. Each event has a creative activity embedded in it, from dance to poetry-writing to a film discussion. In addition to centering creativity in our everyday experiences, the second event, to be held at the South Park Branch, centers the Afrolatino experience in the U.S. and in the Americas.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, I’ve been thinking about how we nourish our creativity. It’s so important to our health and well-being,” Castro Luna said. “I’ve designed this series so that everyone who participates will walk away with something – an understanding, a new tool, a discovery about yourself, a dance.”

Each event will be bilingual, with artists presenting in both English and Spanish.

All Library events are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the programs, which you can do from the calendar listings linked below.

The guest-curated spring series is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation and the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation. 

EVENTS SCHEDULE

•  From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, March 30. Creativity Everyday / Creatividad Cotidiana: Claudia Castro Luna and Guests. Central Library, Level 4, Room 1. Afro-Latina dancer Milvia Pacheco, author Maria de Lourdes Victoria, and artist Adriana Morales will join Claudia Castro Luna at a roundtable discussion about their creative practices and the role that culture and language plays. The panel will be followed with a dance/movement lesson focused on a Caribbean rhythm such as merengue.
• From 6:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sunday, April 16. Film Screening with Claudia Castro Luna and Milvia Berenice Pacheco Salvatierra. South Park Branch (8604 Eighth Ave. S.). Join us for the screening and discussion of a film centered on the Afro-Latino experience with Castro Luna and Milvia Pacheco, founder of Movimiento Afro-Latino. Because the film is intended for adult audiences, this program is scheduled for after the branch closes. Registration is requested.
• 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, April 20. Poetry Everyday / Poesía Cotidiana: A Poetry Reading and Workshop with Claudia Castro Luna. Central Library, Level 4, Room 1. Claudia Castro Luna and artist Adriana Morales Marín will lead a workshop where participants will listen to poetry, and write and illustrate their own poems.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Claudia Castro Luna has been an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow, the Washington State Poet Laureate, and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet. She is the author of "One River, A Thousand Voices;" the Pushcart nominated "Killing Marías," shortlisted for the Washington State 2018 Book Award in poetry; and the chapbook "This City." Born in El Salvador, she came to the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children.

Maria de Lourdes Victoria, originally from Veracruz, Mexico, is an award-winning author whose work has been published internationally in English and Spanish. She has published award-winning novels including "La Casa de los Secretos," "Más allá de la Justicia" and "Los Hijos Del Mar." Her short stories have appeared in international literary journals. Maria is the founder of Seattle Escribe, the largest group of writers who write in Spanish in Washington state. She is currently working on her fourth and fifth novels. Find more information at www.mariadelourdesvictoria.com.

Adriana Morales Marín was born in Mexico City and lives in Bellevue, WA. With a degree in graphic design, she is the author and illustrator of children's books including "Catrina’s Day of the Dead," "Big Mess Jess" and "The Weeping Lady and the Crybaby." She has collaborated with many local authors on illustrating and designing their books, most of them bilingual. Adriana lives with her husband, mother, two kids and three cats.

Milvia Berenice Pacheco Salvatierra is an Afro-Latina artist born in Caracas, Venezuela, where she began her career as a dancer combining dance and theater training. Experiences with trauma at an early age fueled in her a pressing drive toward movement. She went on to devote her life to reaching liberation through art and movement. She is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, performer, bodyworker, visual artist, mother and community organizer. MÁS (Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle) has become the platform where she continues serving as a conduit for empowerment and beyond empowerment for herself and others.