An Afternoon with Yael Valencia Aldana and Julie Marie Wade

***Please note: This event will take place at the Books & Books Coral Gables at 265 Aragon Avenue. Tickets are FREE and books will be available for purchase at the event. Can't make the event?

For our ancestors below the sea
from our ancestors across the sea
I see you, you see me.
In this powerful, profound, and prophetic collection, Yael Valencia Aldana reckons with her identity as a Caribbean Afro-Latinx woman with Indigenous, Black, and white roots and pays homage to the legacy, resilience, and fortitude of her ancestors. These stunning poems paint a vivid portrayal of everyday life and personal experiences as a mixed-race woman, daughter, and mother, and take readers on a journey as she comes face-to-face with her past, present, and future.
The Pushcart Prize–winning poem "Black Person Head Bob" addresses how Black people silently yet soulfully acknowledge and "see" each other. "Why Don't You Write About Joy?" acknowledges the suffering that women of color endure while their cries and spirit remain resolute: "because you cannot hear me doesn't mean I am not singing." "Small Dark and Moving" skillfully represents the poet's journey and the souls she carries with her, evoking images of evolving landscapes and beings transitioning through different forms.
The poet beautifully interweaves narratives regarding the constant presence and influence of her Caribbean parents and a desire for more connection with her Colombian grandmother and ancestry, capturing the essence of origins, blood ties, and the idea that nothing is ever truly lost. This collection is not only a testament to Aldana's deep-rooted connection to her heritage, but a compelling celebration and expression of pride, recognition, and a profound sense of community.

Yael Valencia Aldana is an Afro-Latinx poet and writer. Yael, her mother, her mother's mother, and so on are descendants of the indigenous people of modern-day Colombia. Her work has received the Pushcart Prize, been nominated for Best of The Net, and has appeared in Stone Coast Review, South Cutbank Literary Journal, and Literary Mama, among others. She is the author of the chapbook Alien(s) and serves as a guest editor at Craft Literary, Palette Poetry, and Frontier Poetry. Yael teaches creative writing in South Florida, where she lives with her son and too many pets.

Julie Marie Wade is the author of many collections of poetry, prose, and hybrid forms, most recently Fugue: An Aural History (Diagram/New Michigan Press, 2023) and Otherwise: Essays (Autumn House, 2023), selected by Lia Purpura as the winner of the 2022 Autumn House Nonfiction Book Prize. A winner of the Marie Alexander Poetry Series and the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir, Julie teaches in the creative writing program at Florida International University and makes her home with Angie Griffin and their two cats in Dania Beach. Her newest project is The Mary Years, winner of the 2023 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize selected by Michael Martone and forthcoming from Texas Review Press in Fall 2024.

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