Poetry by Mexican Women Will Be the Focus of Pitt Contemporary Writers Series Sept. 22 Event

PITTSBURGH—Poets Jen Hofer and Ofelia Perez Sepulveda and novelist Christina Rivera-Garza will read contemporary poetry by Mexican women at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22 in the University of Pittsburgh William Pitt Union Kurtzman Room, 3959 Fifth Ave., Oakland. A roundtable discussion featuring the writers will be held at 3 p.m. Sept. 23 in Room 4D56 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland.

Hofer, who works in Los Angeles as a freelance translator and editor, has translated poetry, novels, short stories, essays, and art criticism by a wide range of Mexican and Latin American writers. She edited and translated Sin puertas visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003).

Hofer's first book of poems is Slide Rule (Subpress Collective, 2002). Her translations are included in the anthology Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry (Copper Canyon Press, 2002), and her poems are published in various collective literary projects, most recently in Enough (O Books, 2003) and The 3:15 Experiment (The Owl Press, 2001).

Sepulveda is known for writing in a narrative style that evokes an urban flavor. Her book of poetry, Cuartos privados, (Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Nuevo Leon, 1997), is published in Spanish. Sepulveda's work also is published in Sin puertas visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women.

Rivera-Garza won the prestigious 2002 Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Prize for her novel No One Will See Me Cry (Curbstone Press, 2003). The prize is named for Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the 17th-century Mexican nun considered by many to be the first feminist in the Americas. Author Carlos Fuentes said of Rivera-Garza's work, "No One Will See Me Cry is one of the most beautiful and perturbing novels ever written in Mexico."

Rivera-Garza writes in both Spanish and English and has garnered awards for her works in both languages. She now divides her time between her faculty positions at San Diego State University and Centro Cultural Tijuana.

The Contemporary Writers Series is cosponsored by the Wyndham Garden Hotel-University Place, Pitt's Center for Latin American Studies, University Center for International Studies, The Book Center, and the University of Pittsburgh Press.

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