Leticia was conceived in El Salvador, born in Hollywood, and now lives and writes in San Francisco. In her spoken word, she merges music and performance art antics to communicate a poetry that crosses genre boundaries and geopolitical borders.
She has developed work at Brava! Women for the Arts, La Peña Cultural Center, GalerÃa de la Raza, & Intersection for the Arts. Some of the venues she has featured at include the Nuyorican Poets Café (NY) , The Guild Complex (Chicago), Highways (Los Angeles), and Resource Center for Art and Activism (Washington D.C.). She has performed with artists such as Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Elia Arce, Rubén MartÃnez, Genny Lim, Luis Rodriquez, Daisy Zamora, devorah major, and Marisela Norte. In 2000, she was part of a delegation of artists and activists that traveled to El Salvador to perform, dialogue, and exchange with various communities throughout the country.
In 2002, Calaca Press published her poetry chapbook, Razor Edges of My Tongue. Her writing has also appeared in newspapers, anthologies, and literary journals, the latest of which include, Latino Literature Today and The Other Side of the Postcard.
For over fifteen years, she has been teaching young people to talk back and talk loud. Working as an educator and youth advocate throughout California, she has taught art and creative writing to students from the ages of 5-21. She was an author-in-residence in the Children’s Book Press Lit Links Program and also worked as the Latino News Monitor for New California Media and Pacific News Service. An escaped Ph.D. exile from the University of Pennsylvania, she has taught Women Studies and Latin@ Literature classes at San Francisco State University. Currently, she is Executive Director of GirlSource serving young women in the Mission District of San Francisco.
At thirty-three, she produced her best poem yet: his name is Mahcic Emilio Riley-Hernández and he was born on November 10, 2004.
Pinta Tu Propio Mundo/ Create Your Own World was first presented at Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco in July 2001. The event has consistently highlighted an eclectic assemblage of women artists ready to engage in artistic dialogue in front of a live audience. The fusion of music, performance art and poetry re-defines the traditional boundaries of women's artistic expression and re-presents their voices in an evening that is simultaneously beautiful and explosive. The event's creator, spoken word artist, Leticia Hernandez, has brought together such talented and diverse voices as Elia Arce, Genny Lim, Daisy Zamora, devorah major, Pat Payne, Sandra Munoz, Raquel Gutierrez, Janice Mirikitani, Imani Tolliver, Melissa Lozano, Ariel Robello, Tammy Gomez, Jessica Grande, and the women's collective, cihautl tonali. And the list of talented women artists goes on. Two years ago, the event also began to travel to Los Angeles, hosted by the art gallery Tropico de Nopal. This year, Pinta tu Propio Mundo will celebrate its' fifth anniversary.
Every chica needs a personalized and stylin CIGAR BOX PURSE, each a unique, one of a kind purse--una cajita de poemas, arte, y chispas.