Las Cruces Public Libraries will host a series of poetry discussions and craft sessions called “Palabras y Artesanias (Words and Crafts).”
The first session is set for 4 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14, at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, located at 200 E. Picacho Avenue. Registration is required for each session, and participants can sign up online.
This series is supported by the Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home grant. The project aims to spark nationwide conversations through a new poetry anthology. According to the City of Las Cruces, the anthology covers eight themes: ancestry and identity, language, voice and resistance, first and second homes, family and community, music and performance, labor, and Earth and myth.
The January 14 session will focus on the theme of ancestry and identity. Participants will also create their own lucha libre masks as part of the craft activity.
Additional sessions will be held at 4 p.m. on select Tuesdays through April at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library. More information about the series is available online.
Organizers encourage attendees to read the selected poems reflecting the session themes before each event. Copies of the poems will be available online and at the library’s Picacho Avenue location.
This program is part of the nationwide Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home initiative, which will run throughout 2024 and 2025. The initiative is directed by Library of America and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective.
