Javier Zamora

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Javier Zamora
JavierZamora WashingtonDC20180227.jpg
Zamora, reading at Sacred Heart School, Washington, D.C. 2018
Born1990
San Luis La Herradura, El Salvador
LanguageEnglish, Spanish
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley (BA)
New York University (MFA)
GenrePoetry, Prose
Notable worksUnaccompanied, SOLITO
Notable awardsWallace Stegner Fellow, NEA Fellow, Lannan Foundation Fellow, Ruth Lilly Fellow, Radcliffe Institute Fellow at Harvard University
SpouseJo Blair Cipriano
Website
javierzamora.net

Javier Zamora (born 1990) [1] is a Salvadoran poet and activist. [2]

Contents

Early life

Zamora was born in San Luis La Herradura, El Salvador [3] and immigrated to the United States at the age of nine, joining his parents in California. [4] [2]

Education

He earned a BA at the University of California, Berkeley and an MFA at New York University and was a 2016–2018 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. [5] [2]

Career

Zamora's chapbook Nueve Años Inmigrantes/Nine Immigrant Years won the 2011 Organic Weapon Arts Contest, and his first poetry collection, Unaccompanied, [6] was published in 2017 by Copper Canyon Press. His poetry can be found in The American Poetry Review , Best New Poets 2013, Kenyon Review , NarrativeMagazine, The New Republic , The New York Times , Ploughshares , and Poetry .

The poetry book Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora provides a moving and intimate viewpoint on the experience of migration and the difficulties unaccompanied Central American children have when crossing the border between the United States and Mexico. Zamora explores ideas of identity, belonging, and the pursuit of home using strong and vivid language. These young refugees' experiences are made very relatable and understandable by the poems' vivid imagery and poetic approach. The book transports readers through the emotional landscapes of migration while illuminating the struggles endured by people looking for a better life. The poems become more real and emotionally resonant due to Zamora's personal connection to the subject matter, which also provides a counternarrative and humanizes the experiences of unaccompanied children. [7] [8] "Unaccompanied" poses significant queries regardg immigration laws, human rights, and the effects of boundaries on people and families. Zamora's contribution to "Unaccompanied" has won several awards and praise. The collection won the Northern California Book Award 2018 and was a finalist for the 2018 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. The Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship is one of the many literary honors bestowed to Zamora.

Honors

Zamora's honors include Barnes & Noble Writer for Writer's Award (2016), Meridian Editors’ Prize, and the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. Zamora has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, CantoMundo, Colgate University, The Frost Place, [9] MacDowell Colony, the Macondo Writers Workshop, the Napa Valley Writers' Conference, the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing, and Yaddo. [10] [5] In 2017, Zamora was awarded the Narrative Prize for "Sonoran Song," "To the President-Elect," and "Thoughts on the Anniversary of My Crossing the Sonoran Desert". [11] [12] In 2023 he received a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award for Solito: A Memoir .

Activism

Zamora was a founder, with poets Marcelo Hernandez Castillo and Christopher Soto (AKA Loma), of the Undocupoets campaign which eliminated citizenship requirements from major first poetry book prizes in the United States. [3] [13]

Books

In Anthology

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The Undocupoets are a group of poets who are currently or formerly undocumented immigrants in the United States who support other undocumented poets. The group was originally co-founded in 2015 by Castillo, Javier Zamora, and Christopher Soto aka Loma. Undocupoets united to petition against citizenship requirements in book prizes, but have grown to include a fellowship and more. It is currently co-organized by poets Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Janine Joseph, and Esther Lin.

References

  1. ↑ "The Harrowing Migration Story of One 9-Year-Old Child". The New York Times. September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Javier Zamora". Poetry Foundation. June 5, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Rethinking Poetic Citizenship". Poets & Writers. June 17, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Javier Zamora – Narrative Magazine". Narrativemagazine.com. April 17, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Art Talk with Poet Javier Zamora". Arts.gov. December 16, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Copper Canyon Press: Unaccompanied, Poetry by Javier Zamora". Coppercanyonpress.org. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  7. ↑ "On Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  8. ↑ Poets, Academy of American. "Unaccompanied: An Interview with Javier Zamora | poets.org". poets.org. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  9. ↑ "The Poems of Javier Zamora – Good Times Santa Cruz". Goodtimes.sc. April 10, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Javier Zamora - PEN America". Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Biography". javierzamora.net. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Narrative Prize". Narrative Magazine. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Undocupoets Organizers Are Making Headway by Harriet Staff". Poetry Foundation. June 5, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  14. ↑ Reviewed in: Young, Julia G. (January 2023). "A boy at the border" . Books. Commonweal. 150 (1): 58–60.
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