MARTIN ESPADA IS the “Pablo Neruda of North
American authors,” says Sandra Cisneros, and Barbara Kingsolver
writes that “[t]o read this work is to be struck breathless
and, surely, to come away changed.” According to Russell Banks, Espada is “one
of a handful of American poets . . . forging a new American
language.” His seventh and newest collection is Alabanza: New and Selected Poems, 1982-2002;
an earlier book, Imagine
the Angels of Bread, won an American Book Award and was
a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award.
Much of his writing arises from his Puerto Rican heritage
and his work experiences, ranging from bouncer to tenant lawyer.
He teaches at University of Massachusetts—Amherst.
ELLEN BRYANT VOIGT, the maker of “an art at
once ravishing and stern and deeply human” (American Academy
of Arts and Letters), is author of six books of poetry, including
her most recent, Shadow of Heaven, a National Book Aaward finalist, and Kyrie, winner of the Teasdale Prize, as
well as a volume of criticism, The
Flexible Lyric. According
to Booklist, “She writes with a classic authority
. . . maturely, philosophically, and with passion and intelligence.
. . . Voigt’s poems are thoroughly considered creations in which
every word, no matter how humble, is worth its weight in gold.” Currently on the faculty of the Warren Wilson low-residency MFA
program, her honors include Guggenheim, Lila Wallace, and NEA
fellowships.
