Legna Rodriguez Iglesias – författare

"Iglesias experiments with form while showcasing the philosophical and metaphorical possibilities of poetry in this winner of the 2016 National Poetry Series Paz Prize for Poetry. Faultlessly translated by Aparicio, the individual pieces in this book-length sequence of Petrarchan sonnets are each foregrounded by brief meditations, which often read as a commentary on the work''s own movement through literary tradition...The experiment in form is a philosophical argument that poetry can contribute to what have traditionally been envisioned as purely scholarly conversations. Iglesias offers a vision of the subject as divided while showcasing the beauty inherent in this fracturing; the fragment is revealed as ''the key that will open the doors.''"--Publishers Weekly

"Readers of this book, whether in Spanish, English, or both, can find something special in these snapshots of life''s random moments...Hearing from a Latina woman that is unapologetically authentic and funny provides a much-needed healthy representation of our culture that helps to dispel the misconceptions. We are not criminals or bad hombres, we are lovers and dreamers and complex human beings, in Miami, and beyond."--White Wall Review

"Miami Century Fox is Legna Rodríguez Iglesias''s English debut, but by no means is she an emerging poet. Here''s a voice that''s seasoned and fierce, tender and sharp as a blade. I promise, dear readers, that you will not encounter another book quite like this, nor another poet quite like Legna Rodríguez Iglesias, ever again."--Achy Obejas, from the introduction

"This smart, delightful, and seductive dual-language (Spanish and English) collection by the 2017 winner of the Paz Prize for Poetry is a loving and sly portrait of Miami and the immigrant experience in the 21st century."--Publishers Weekly, included in Fall 2017 Adult Announcements, Poetry

A bilingual--English and Spanish--collection by the 2017 winner of the Paz Prize for Poetry, Miami Century Fox is a delightful, seductive read. Sonnets? Rhyme and meter? Yes, along with a delicious serving of irony and wit. This is one very smart collection of poems--a loving and sly portrait of Miami and the immigrant experience in the twenty-first century.

Translated by Eduardo Aparicio.

The Paz Prize for Poetry is presented by The National Poetry Series and The Center for Writing and Literature at Miami Dade College and is awarded biennially. Named in the spirit of the late Novel Prize--winning poet Octavio Paz, it honors a previously unpublished book of poetry written originally in Spanish by an American resident.

Living in Language brings together reflections on the craft and purpose of poetry, by 21 leading poets from around the world. The lyric essays, fragments, letters and new poems in this groundbreaking anthology shed light on topics as diverse and vital as writing the body, writing in exile, writing as witness, writing as a shamanic act, grappling with traditional forms, discovering your own voice, and even translation and self-translation. This is an essential resource for anyone looking to broaden their horizons and engage with the cutting edge of poetry as it is practised, around the world, in the 21st century.

Legna Rodríguez Iglesias has quickly become one of the most celebrated Cuban poets writing today. Her intense – often confrontational – poetry refuses to conform, subverting expectations and challenging social mores. Particularly arresting is her uncomfortable focus on the human body, which she dramatises in isolation, stripping it of context, making it strange and even obscene. Alongside poems of extreme descriptive vigour, Rodríguez Iglesias irreverently skewers the hypocrisies, clichés and hierarchies of our time. This selection offers a broad survey of Rodríguez Iglesias’s work, drawing on eight previous collections in Spanish. Throughout, the poems are inflected with Cuban history and explore the tensions between the generation of the Revolution and her own. The consequences of poet’s long-term residence in Miami are forcefully brought home through poems of emigration and estrangement. The playfulness and verbal dexterity that marks Rodríguez Iglesias’s work in Spanish has been expertly brought to life in English by Abigail Parry, an award-winning poet whose debut collection Jinx was published by Bloodaxe in 2018, working in collaboration with bridge-translator and writer Serafina Vick.