Poet Emmy Pérez, recipient of the 2022 United States Artist Fellowship and Texas Poet Laureate 2020, will be the keynote speaker for Brazos Valley Reads 2023, set for Monday, April 3, at 7 p.m. in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center on the Texas A&M University campus.
No fees or tickets are required for Pérez’s presentation, “From Storytelling Roots: Poetics of Resistance, Belonging & Love,” will feature readings from her various poetry collections, including With the River on Our Face, Solstice and a forthcoming publication of new and selected work. In addition, she will discuss her creative process in writing her work and how she and other writers formed Poets Against Walls collective. The presentation will be followed by a book signing.
Pérez, who grew up in Santa Ana, California, had forged a connection with Texas even before she took up permanent residence in the state. Because her mother had grown up in Ysleta/El Paso, she had heard stories of her experiences and the rich cultures characteristic of the area.
“It was important for me to experience living there after growing up in Southern California and hearing my mother’s stories about her childhood in Ysleta and family history there and in México,” Pérez said. “My mother was a keen observer and participant, which she shared mostly through the oral tradition. I know I’d be a different poet if it weren’t for her stories and my father’s. Or maybe I wouldn’t be a poet at all. I didn't realize living in El Paso would then take me so many hours downriver to the Rio Grande Valley, where I’ve lived in McAllen now for a while.”
Both of Pérez’s published collections explore her deep-rooted connection with the Rio Grande and the history of the borderlands. Solstice explores identity and belonging in various regions, including El Paso. With the River on Our Face celebrates the unique and beautiful ecology and land along the river as well as communities, particularly the Rio Grande Valley, that call the area home.
Her forthcoming collection features new poems evoking similar themes along with Pérez’s experiences and recollections of her time being in the land and in the community. Many of these pieces will be explored during her presentation.
“Some of the poems in With the River on Our Face witness border wall building before 2016, and the new poems continue to witness events in the borderlands, the country and in my own life after,” Pérez said. “I wrote and write this work from a social justice perspective.”
Coming from a family of storytellers, Pérez said she has been nourished with a rich history of the generations that came before her. Many of her ancestors’ stories can be found within her poems and writings as honorable recollections of her family line and their experiences.
Coming from a family of storytellers, Pérez said she has been nourished with a rich history of the generations that came before her Fragments of her ancestors’ stories can be found within her poems and writings, which she calls “the roots helping me write work that brings me from silence to speech, even everyday writing that I don’t always intend to publish but helps me craft my life in particular ways.”
Pérez will take the Brazos Valley Reads audience on this journey with her while also introducing them to the motivating factors in her professional and personal life.
“My audience is anyone who would like to take this poetry journey with me and reflect on how we all make meaning in our lives," Pérez said. "We all have our own ways of doing so. For me, love, social justice and continual learning are some of my driving forces.”
While in Aggieland, Pérez will be participating in two other free events limited to Texas A&M students: a master class for aspiring authors on Monday, April 3, as well as a literary discussion on Tuesday, April 4.
Brazos Valley Reads 2023 is sponsored by the Texas A&M Department of English with additional support from Barnes & Noble at Texas A&M, the Bryan-College Station Eagle, LAUNCH Undergraduate Research, Honors and Learning Communities and the Bryan-College Station Public Library System.
About Brazos Valley Reads
Organized by the Texas A&M Department of English, the Brazos Valley Reads Program has been working to connect students to the rest of Brazos Valley since its first event in 2005. The annual event — one of the most highly anticipated activities hosted by the department — provides a stage for internationally recognized authors along with opportunities for growth and connectivity throughout many different communities.