Dan Vera

Dan Vera
Dan Vera reading at Iota Poetry Series 20th anniversary.
Born South Texas
Occupation Poet, Editor
Nationality American
Genre Poetry
Website
danvera.com

Dan Vera (born South Texas) is an American poet and editor of Cuban descent living in Washington D.C.[1]

Career

Vera is the author of Speaking Wiri Wiri, (Red Hen Press, 2013)[2] and The Space Between Our Danger and Delight, (Beothuk Books, 2009). His manuscript The Guide to Imaginary Monuments was selected by Orlando Ricardo Menes for the 2012 Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize[3] and published as Speaking Wiri Wiri.[2] In 2014, he was named one of LatinoStories.com's "Top 10 'New' Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)", calling him "a talented, sophisticated poet who is a master at playing with words".[4] In 2017, he was the recipient of the Oscar Wilde Award for LGBT poetry.[5]

His work has appeared in The American Prospect, Foreign Policy in Focus, ''Poet Lore, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Notre Dame Review, Delaware Poetry Review, Gargoyle Magazine, Konch, and Red Wheelbarrow.[6]

Vera's poetry blends English and Spanish. As he explains:

I love the English language. And I think one of the things that I love about the English language is the permeability of English to not only accept but also struggle with the incorporation of other languages like Spanish. So when I write, I'm constantly going back and forth between these two possible ways of articulating the world around me.[7]

Vera is poetry editor of Origins Journal[8] and past Managing Editor of White Crane.[8] He publishes other poets through Vrzhu Press and Souvenir Spoon Books.[9] Vera is the co-editor, with ire'ne lara silva, of an essay anthology about Gloria Anzaldúa, Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, (Aunt Lute Books, 2016).[10]

He founded Brookland Area Writers & Artists and serves on the boards of Split This Rock Poetry and Rainbow History Project.[11][12] His work as co-editor with Kim Roberts of the literary history site D.C. Writers' Homes was part of his effort to get to know Washington D.C.:

I was just really fascinated to discover that writing and writers had existed in D.C. before me. I live in the Brookland neighborhood, and was fascinated to find out that Sterling Brown lived a few blocks from me and wanted to know more about him — that kind of started a progression of interest in writers, playwrights and poets and novelists who called Washington home.[7]

Vera is a member of the prestigious Macondo Writers Workshop, the workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros.[13]

Personal life

He lives in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[11]

Works

Poetry collections

  • Speaking Wiri Wiri. Red Hen Press. March 2013. ISBN 978-1-59709-274-6.
  • The Space Between Our Danger and Delight. Beothuk Books. March 28, 2009. ISBN 978-0-615-25371-8.

Poetry in anthologies

  • Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. 2018. ISBN 978-0820353159.
  • The Traveler's Vade Mecum. Red Hen Press. October 10, 2016. ISBN 978-1597092241.
  • The Queer South: LGBTQ Writers on the American South. Sibling Rivalry Press. September 16, 2014. ISBN 978-1-937420-80-2.
  • Divining Divas: 100 Gay Men on their Muses. Lethe Press.
  • Gratitude Prayers. Andrews McMeel. February 2013. ISBN 978-1449421762.
  • Full Moon On K Street: Poems About Washington, DC. Plan B Press. December 1, 2010.
  • Dog Blessings. New World Library. October 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57731-616-9.
  • D.C. Poets Against The War. Argonne House Press. 2004. ISBN 1-887641-98-X.

As editor

  • Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands. Aunt Lute Books. 2016. ISBN 9781879960930. , with ire'ne lara silva and an introduction by United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera
  • A Prophet in His Own Land: A Malcolm Boyd Reader. White Crane Wisdom. 2008. ISBN 978-1590210116. , with Malcolm Boyd and Bo Young
  • Author's website
  • Interview on "Artworks" podcast , National Endowment for the Arts
  • Interview with Jonathan Wilson , WAMU's "Metro Connection"
  • poem on Beltway Poetry Quarterly
  • "About page", DC Writers' Homes

References

  1. ↑ Dan Vera | Directory of Writers | Poets & Writers
  2. 1 2 Speaking Wiri Wiri | Red Hen Press
  3. ↑ Poetry Foundation blog
  4. ↑ "2014 Top Ten "New" Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)". LatinoStories.com. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Arlington Literary Journal, Issue 100, 2017 http://216.197.126.12/arlijo/index.cfm?issue=100
  6. ↑ Author page on Poets and Writers http://www.pw.org/content/dan_vera
  7. 1 2 Wilson, Jonathan (27 September 2013). "Bookend: Poet Dan Vera Blends Spanish, English Influences In Latest Work". Metro Connection. WAMU 88.5 American University Radio. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  8. 1 2 http://www.originsjournal.com/editors/
  9. ↑ Dan Vera biography
  10. ↑ "Juan Felipe Herrera, Imaniman, and Gloria Anzaldúa", Aunt Lute Books website, April 2016 http://auntlute.com/7878/new_release/juan-felipe-herrera-imaniman-and-gloria-anzaldua/
  11. 1 2 Taub, Yermiyahu Ahron. "Poet Dan Vera Finds a Home in Brookland". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  12. ↑ "members". brookland area writers & artists. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012.
  13. ↑ http://www.guadalupeculturalarts.org/macondo-workshop-about/
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