Mexican-American Poet Mónica de la Torre to Read Poetry for KPS

On Sunday, April 8 at 4 pm the Katonah Poetry Series will celebrate National Poetry Month and kick off its spring readings with noted Mexican-American poet, Mónica de la Torre. De la Torre is the author of five books of poetry, three in English and two in Spanish, as well as several widely praised translations of Spanish and Persian poetry. Her most recent volume, The Happy End / All Welcome (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2017) has been described as follows: “Part ekphrasis, part theatrical production, de la Torre’s book stages often hilarious exchanges. Part of her gift as a writer is comedic timing, manipulating recognizable situations and the vocabulary they provide to release minor affects such as frustration, annoyance, skepticism, and embarrassment.” (Nathaniel Rosenthalis)

A native of Mexico City, De la Torre earned her undergraduate degree there, then completed her MFA and PhD in Spanish Literature from Columbia. She currently teaches literature and advanced poetry at Brown University and has served as poetry editor of The Brooklyn Rail and senior editor of BOMB Magazine (2007-2016). She has received a Fulbright scholarship, a Lannan residency and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts.  She has participated in several multidisciplinary collectives, among them Taller de Taquimecanografía, whose self-titled volume was published in 2011 by Tumbona Ediciones. Her work has most recently appeared in the volume The Animated Reader: Poetry of Surround Audience (2015), published in conjunction with the New Museum’s Triennial.