Bøger af Xánath Caraza

Traveling and being transported to another place means experiencing different seasons and times. It is an essential part of Xánath Caraza's poetry. The feeling given by the pages of You Will Weave Destiny stems from the complexity of the images with which we are presented. These Nahuatl images and objects appear as offerings for our appreciation and to bring us closer to times that initially seem remote.This collection is also a passionate homage to one of the women who made a difference in fifteenth century Tenochtitlan. Macuilxochitzin or Macuilxochitl was a poet born during the most prosperous period of the expansion of the Aztec civilization. Daughter of the royal advisor Tlacaelel and niece of the Tlatoani warrior Axayacatl. Her life and her texts are an example of the gender parallelism of pre-Hispanic Mexico where women had the same opportunities as men.

Poetry. Translated from the Spanish by Sandra Kingery. Bilingual Edition. "Come on this journey, brave the violence in Mexico, in Bosnia, in the U.S. Don't stop. Move through the ancient and mythical, tread the mountains and valleys of the natural world, let the seas swirl at your ankles, follow the jungle trail of the tenacious Ocelocihuatl, the jaguar-woman, with each step pulsing with the unfaltering rhythms and patterns that mark these poems. Caraza's words cast a spell, seep under our skin, into our bellies and hearts, and remind us that poetry is how we survive."--Donna Miscolta

Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. Translated from the Spanish by Steven Holland-Wempe, Sandra Kingery, and the author. "This debut collection is amazing. The finesse of the storytelling is a pleasure on every page. The importance of immigrant issues becomes not a political statement so much as an epic story of all peoples' survival. Although the stories are not linked and take place in various geographies--China, Europe, the United States, and Mexico--still, the continuity remains with the heroine figure. She is a woman who travels through miseries, between the worlds of the living and the spirits. La Llorona's shadow casts a spell on these stories, where loss occurs, but the natural world offers solace, as well as unexpected beauties. This is a book of songs as well as myths."--Denise Low-Weso

In Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems (2015), traveler, educator, poet and short story writer Xánath Caraza conjures up a collection of ekphrastic poems that summon both the indigenous and African roots of Mexico and take the reader through a trip of visual and rhythmic narratives that descend "into the heart of things". Pandora lobo estepario Production Press has decided to publish the second edition of Caraza's, Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems (2015). This second edition is revised, augmented, and has a foreword by Nuno Júdice. The chapbook is a bilingual edition; most of the translations are by the author in addition to Sandra Kingery and Stephen Holland-Wempe.

Noche de colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems by Xánath Caraza and published by Pandora lobo estepario Productions press is a bilingual chapbook, Spanish and English. Noche de colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems is synonymous with painting with words that which emerges from the center of a woman, poet. Polychromatic rhythms are expertly mixed throughout the pages of this book. Images accompany each poem which celebrates each image. This book goes beyond description to create a poem, a story, yet possessing rediscovery in each of them. Caraza, as previously demonstrated, is a painter-poet where each verse impregnates each page with color and is most certainly worth reading not only with one's sight, but also with one's senses of smell, touch, taste and sound. Noche de colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems por Xánath Caraza publicado por Pandora lobo estepario Productions press es un plaquette bilingue, español e inglés. Noche de colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems es sinónimo de pintar con palabras que emergen desde el centro de una mujer, poeta. Ritmos policrómaticos se mezclan expertamente entre las páginas de este libro. Imágenes acompañan cada poema que las celebra, no las describe sino crea un poema, una historia, redescubriéndolas. Caraza, como lo ha demostrado con anterioridad, es una pintora-poeta donde cada verso impregna la página con color y merece ser leído no tan sólo con la vista, sino con el olfato, el tacto, el gusto y el oído.

Xanath Caraza's second full-length collection of verse, Silabas de viento / Syllables of Wind, establishes her as a premiere author of both Spanish and English verse. Her global reach is always rooted in her Indigenous American heritage. A native of Xalapa and resident of Kansas City, Caraza gives testimony to the powerful transformative experience of global identity. "From Olmeca land to Bilbao, Andalusia, Morocco, Bosnia, and back to the Midwest, Xanath Caraza's words flow like chants calling us back to the mystery and majesty of our ancient ones who surround us in the physical world. Her written imagery calls forth a poetic spirit in me that I did not hear before. I am grateful." Lara Medina, author of Las Hermanas: Chicana/Latina Religious-Political Activism in the U. S. Catholic Church (Temple University Press) "Reading these poems means disentangling those mysterious underpinnings, that commitment to culture itself, joined in a universal whole, in which there is an expression of the splendor of the jungle, the healing of the shaman, the sacred animal who we are as well, and a luminous daybreak overcoming death." Carlos J. Aldazabal, Introduccion / Introduction Xanath Caraza teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and presents readings and workshops in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. Her book of verse Conjuro (Mammoth) and book of short fiction Lo que trae la marea / What the Tide Brings In (Mouthfeel) have won national and international recognition.

Jackeline''s Butterfly honors and commemorates the life of Jackeline Caal, the seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who died while in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on December 8, 2018. Jackeline and her father, Nery Caal, were part of a group of 163 asylum seekers who crossed the New Mexican border the previous day. They turned themselves in to the authorities at around 10 PM, but when Jackeline began to vomit and have seizures, it took 90 minutes before she was seen by medical professionals. The doctors recorded a body temperature of 105.7° F. Jackeline was transported to the children''s hospital in El Paso, Texas, but it was too late to save her. The President of the American Academy of Pediatrics called this tragic death "preventable."In this wide-ranging collection, Xánath Caraza calls upon nature and the gods (both ancient Greek and Mesoamerican) to witness the senseless death of Jackeline and other children who "One by one ... / die alone." Attention must be paid to the horrors that are taking place: "Red moon: bear witness / to this tragedy. / Nocturnal birds: / wake from your slumber / and strengthen your flight. / Stop gliding / with the wind. / Flap your wings, / dominate the skies, / spread the news."The final poems address Jackeline directly and celebrate the seven-year-old child who had the strength and audacity to travel over 2000 miles in search of a better life. Jackeline''s memory is honored: "You depart full of poetry, Mayan girl. / Your huipil embroidered with blue butterflies. / Your motionless hands loaded with golden memories. / Your closed eyes still cold. / You are flower and song, beautiful girl." The horror of this loss is mitigated only by the butterfly that continues to flutter about, representing hope and the innocence of childhood. Edward Lorenz asked whether a single flap of a butterfly''s wings in one part of the world might lead to a tornado in another. Here''s hoping that the fluttering of this butterfly leads, instead, to a rebirth of compassion and concern for the most vulnerable among us.

Author Xánath Caraza leads the reader on a highly visual archeological dig across the strata of time and history in this poetic tour through the ethos of Mexico's "mother culture" the Olmec civilization. This is a fully bilingual Spanish and English book, making it essentially a two-for-one deal!