Lorena Duarte is a spoken word artist and performance poet born in civil war-ravaged El Salvador, raised in Minnesota and educated at Harvard University. She has given performances and workshops in many different settings, from high schools to club stages and loves to discuss her cross-cultural, multilingual migrations through love, war, politics, language, family and culture.
She is passionate about poetry, education and human rights and is committed to helping youth develop their own paths to self expression. Lorena aims to use poetry and spoken word as vehicles towards social justice and awareness. She approaches poetry not as a rarefied, unreachable craft, but as a form of information sharing, education, empowerment, inspiration – and dare she say it? fun – for everyone.
For a copy of Lorena's book of poetry, abandon poems, send her a message through myspace.
For bookings, please email: [email protected]
Bio:
Lorena Duarte was born in El Salvador and raised in Minnesota. She holds a degree in Hispanic Studies/Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University and now lives in Minneapolis. For three years she served as Editor of La Prensa de Minnesota, a bilingual Latino newspaper, and now works for Twin Cities Public Television, one of the leading PBS stations in the country.
She performs regularly with Palabristas (www.palabristas.com), Latin@ Wordslingers, a Minnesota based Latino poetry collective. She has written curriculum teaching poetry to kids and teens and has facilitated workshops in both English and Spanish. In 2005, she was named one of the top 25 young Latino leaders in Minnesota by the MN Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
She is currently co-editing a Palabrista poetry collection which will be published in 2007. She contributed to and co-edited ¿Under What Bandera? Anti-War Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas published by Calaca Press in 2004, which won the Resource Center of the Americas Book of the Year 2004. She is also featured in Telling Tongues (2007 by Calaca Press & Red Salmon Press).
Duarte performs her work regularly for universities, organizations and institutions ranging from the Loft to First Avenue and has shared the stage with performers such as Jimmy Santiago Baca, Paul Flores and Amalia Ortiz.
In 2006, she was part of Found in Translation, winners of the
Minneapolis MOSAIC 2006 commission. In addition, she was the recipient of a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and was a finalist in the Loft Mentor Series in Poetry.
She was also chosen to serve as a judge for mnartists.org’s poetry series "What Light" and to be a member of
Intermedia Arts’
Moving Lives Speaker Bureauwhich aims to foster dialogues about human rights and immigration issues in Twin Cities schools and communities through the artwork and stories of immigrant artists.
In 2007, she represented Minnesota at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Vancouver and was part of SlamMN's team at the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas. In September, she became a board member of The Loft, the nation's largest literary organization.
Workshops:
Aside from just doing performances, Lorena can teach different kinds of workshops/lectures for a variety of different audiences – from elementary school kids, to teachers, to university students. The workshops can be focused on writing, or on exploring different themes that are of particular interest to the group.
For Students: Workshops can be tailored for different age groups, class topics or themes, and can be done in either English or Spanish.
Lorena will work with teachers to ensure that the workshop is relevant to their lesson plan and/or themes that the class is covering. Some of these could include: language experience and bilingualism, immigration and migration, writing from the margins, and socio-economic and historical realities from the Latin American and Latino/a perspective. Typically, Lorena will use her own work as well as work by Latin American masters and current day Latino spoken word artists and slam poets as examples.
Writing workshops can focus more specifically on the craft of writing and can vary in length from 30 minutes to two hours. Generally, these workshops include writing exercises as well as feedback, revision and review. Lorena has a wide range of writing exercises available, for use by the novice or the professional, the six year old or the 21 year old.
Lorena can also do performance-based workshops, which are well suited to English, Speech, Public Speaking or Drama classes. These workshops would focus on teaching students the basics of good presentations, dramatic delivery, etc. through the use of theater and improvisational games and techniques.
For Teachers: Workshops for teachers can focus on different approaches to poetry that teachers can use to engage their students. Lorena can cover different curriculum, methods, and strategies as well as particular themes of importance to Latino students, and students of color.
what I like ...
Music: deep and abiding love for U2, local hip hop folk like los na & atmosphere, Ojos del Brujo - so good!, Yerba Buena, Lila Downs, ohhh and my latest which i love love is Andrew Bird. and also spoken word CDs are good - the Spoken Word Revolution is v. good.
Movies: Todo Sobre Mi Madre - the best! and also Habla con Ella, Elizabeth, Whalerider, Like Water for Chocolate, Godfather II, High Fidelity, original Willie Wonka, Run Lola Run, Bourne Identity (anything w/ spies i love except Bond movies) and The Breakfast Club
Television: lately?
battlestar gallactica. and the dorky guy on PBS who travels all over Europe. classic? Julia Child, Sesame Street, the Spanish dubbed over version of the anime child soap opera of Heidi. The transformers. the facts of life
Books: NERUDA, la sor juana, and of course emily dickinson ...
sigh ... the weight of all things by sandra benitez, these are not sweet girls edited by marjorie agosin, the complete works of julia de burgos, confederacy of dunces!, cien años de soldedad by GGM, reading lolita in tehran by azar nafisi, caucasia by danzy senna, expecting adam by martha beck, the biographies of ee cummings and frida kahlo, anything by: roque dalton, ginsburn, clementina suarez, lorna dee cervantes, plath, anna ahkmatova. and of course - all the Ramona books by beverly cleary, the little house on the prarie series, and Harry Potter!
