In the Belly of Night and Other Poems
Published in a trilingual edition in August 2022 by Mexico City’s Pluralia Ediciones, In the Belly of Night and Other Poems is available in the U.S. from Eulalia Books. (You can buy it here.) The collection is drawn from Irma Pineda’s early poetry collections, published in Isthmus Zapotec and Spanish between 2004 and 2008, as well as several poems from an as yet unpublished book. I selected 48 poems for this collection, all of which have appeared in U.S. literary journals (please see links below).
An excerpt from my introductory essay in the book, and several poems, appeared in Latin American Literature Today in March 2023. This review in the literary journal Terrain gives a good overview of the collection’s main themes. The book was also reviewed in River Mouth Review and World Literature Today.
Seattle poet and Cascadian Poetics Lab podcaster Paul Nelson interviewed me about the book in November 2022. You can listen to the interview here.
One of the six release events that Irma Pineda and I did for this book in Mexico, in October 2022, is archived here. You can hear Irma Pineda reading the original Isthmus Zapotec and Spanish versions of three poems, with an essay I wrote about her work, published in Orion in 2014. You can read individual poems included in the collection in several literary journals, see links below:
Four poems by Irma Pineda, Two Lines: 25th Anniversary Issue, Center of the Art of Translation, San Francisco, CA, Spring 2019
Four poems by Irma Pineda (with audio recordings of the original poems), Terrain, Tucson, AZ, Fall 2018
“Cord-House IX” and “Village Images” by Irma Pineda, with a Translator’s Note, Waxwing XIV, Spring 2018
Six poems by Irma Pineda, MAKE: A Literary Magazine #17, 2017
“Translation Feature” Five poems by Irma Pineda, with a Translator’s Note, The Cincinnati Review, Winter 2016
Three poems by Irma Pineda, Asymptote blog “Translation Tuesday,” July 2015
“Guela Be’ñe’,” “Sea,” and “Sun,” by Irma Pineda, About Place Journal, Black Earth Institute, Summer 2014
“Death Surprised You,” by Irma Pineda, (with audio of her reading the original poem) Kenyon Review Online, Kenyon College, July 2013