Valerie Martínez

News:  Valerie Martínez was named Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 10, 2008. 

                    Valerie is a member of the core artist team of Littleglobe, Inc. which recently premiered the Common

                     Ground Festival and Performance.  Learn more at www.littleglobe.org

VALERIE'S BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS, CREATIVE PROJECTS, BIOGRAPHY

Valerie Martínez’s first book of poetry, Absence, Luminescent (Four Way Books, 1999) won the Larry Levis Prize and a Greenwall Grant from the Academy of American Poets.  It was a finalist in the Walt Whitman, National Poetry Series, and Intro Award first-book competitions.  Her second book of poems, World to World, was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2004. 

An excerpt from Martínez's new work, Each and Her (a book-length poem) is forthcoming in the American Poetry Review and Mandorla as well as in the anthology JUNTA: Contemporary Avant-Garde Poetry by Latino/a Writers (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009).

Martinez’s translations of the poetry of Uruguay’s Delmira Agustini (1886-1914), A Flock of Scarlet Doves, was published in special edition by Sutton Hoo Press in 2005.  Martínez also served as assistant editor of the anthology Reinventing the Enemy’s Language:  Contemporary Writing by Native Women of North America (Norton 1997).  Her essay, "Mapping the Next World," currently appears in the anthology Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections (University of Iowa Press, 2008).

Martinez’s poetry, translations, and essays have appeared in many literary journals and magazines including Parnassus; The Colorado Review; Puerto del Sol; The Notre Dame Review; Luna, Tiferet, The Bloomsbury Review, and AGNI.  Her poems have been published in various anthologies of contemporary poetry including The Best American Poetry (1996); New American Poets: A Bread Loaf Anthology; American Poetry:  Next Generation, Touching the Fire:  Fifteen Poets of Today’s Latino Renaissance, and Renaming Ecstasy:  Latino Writings on the Sacred. 

Valerie's play (a verse/drama), “Heart of the Goddess” (set in a 15^th century Aztec village and contemporary America), had its first staged reading on March 1, 2006 at the Greer Garson Theater in Santa Fe and was featured in the Southwest Playwrights' Festival on March 17, 2007 in Albuquerque.  A third staged reading was held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on March 14, 2008 as part of Women and Creativity Week.

Valerie is also strongly committed to creative community work.  She is a member of the core creative team of Littleglobe, Inc. a 501(c) 3 artist run non-profit.  Littleglobe integrates experimental creative approaches with collaborative community projects that foster civic dialogue and social and environmental health and healing.  Littleglobe's 2007 project was “Memorylines: Santa Fe, Voces de Nuestra Jornada” an inter-generational, inter-media new opera commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera as part of its 50^th anniversary celebration  Memorylines was created through intensive ensemble work by a diverse artist team and 18 participants drawn from the wide range of Santa Fe communities.  It premiered in May 2007 in Santa Fe.

On June 7 2008, Littleglobe premiered the Common Ground Festival & Performance--an inter-media celebration of cross-community collaboration in film, visual art, music, spoken word, poetry, and movement.  The performance was created over six months by the Littleglobe creative team and 80 community members from Cuba, Ojo Encino, and Torreon, New Mexico working across cultural, economic, racial, and generational lines.  (Littleglobe, Inc.)

Valerie Martínez was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  She has a B.A. in English from Vassar College and an M.F.A. in Poetry from The University of Arizona.  She has taught at the University of Arizona, Ursinus College, New Mexico Highlands University, University of New Mexico, and in the rural schools of Swaziland.  She is currently Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at the College of Santa Fe.  She lives in Albuquerque and Santa Fe with her husband, Paul Resnick.