Verónica Reyes

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Verónica Reyes (born 1968 or 1969) is a Chicana, Latina, LGBT poet from East Los Angeles, California. She is known for her book of poetry Chopper! Chopper! Poetry from Bordered Lives, which won her several awards. In 2014, she was honored with the International Latino Book Award and the Golden Crown Literary Society Award, and was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry.[1][2] In 1999, she won the AWP Intro Journals Project award and was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.[3]

Early life and education[edit]

Reyes was born in the late 1960s to Natividad Avalos Reyes and Julia Socorro Hernández Reyes, "in the Maravilla area beneath the two jails and near the I-710 Freeway" in East Los Angeles, California.[4] Reyes began writing at age 14, though she didn't know she was writing poetry.[4] Her mother died when Reyes was 18, which she says "paved [her] road in life as a poet and educator."[4]

Reyes was initially rejected from universities because her English-language scores were too low, though she eventually received help from the Educational Opportunity Program and passed the required language tests on her third try. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Long Beach State University in 1995 and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2000.[5]

Though she presently lives in East Los Angeles, Reyes has lived in El Paso, Texas and Toronto.

Career[edit]

Reyes has worked for El Paso Community College (Rio Grande and Valle Verde campuses), Humber College, Long Beach City College's Upward Bound program, and currently, California State University, Los Angeles[4][6]


Reyes is a member of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social and the Macondo Writers’ Workshop.[3][7]

Awards and honors[edit]

In 2014, Chopper! Chopper! won the 2014 International Latino Book Award and the Golden Crown Literary Society Award, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry.

In 1999, Reyes won the AWP Intro Journals Project award and was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.[3]

Personal life[edit]

Reyes describes herself as a "Chicana feminist jota poet from East Los Angeles"[5] and has stated,

I write for Mexicanos, Chicanas/os, for the next generation to see/read pieces that looked like us. That embodied us. I write to add the stories I know and understand and say this is us, the gente from North Sydney Drive. This was how we lived. We exist. We matter.[3]

Selected works[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Chopper! Chopper! Poetry from Bordered Lives

Journals[edit]

Reyes's writing has been published in the following journals:[5]

Selected Poems[edit]

  • Desert Rain: An Anointment
  • The Hawk
  • Bad Flower

References[edit]

  1. ^ Wiebe, Sheldon (March 20, 2015). "The Fifth Beatle Graphic Novel In Trade Paperback Coming This Fall!". Eclipse Magazine. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  2. ^ "Winners of the 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced". Lambda Literary. June 3, 2014. Archived from the original on September 12, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "Verónica Reyes". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. November 11, 2018. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ a b c d "Verónica Reyes". Poets & Writers. Archived from the original on December 17, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Olivas, Daniel A. (February 27, 2014). "Three Questions for Verónica Reyes Regarding Her Debut Poetry Collection, "Chopper! Chopper!"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  6. ^ "LatinxLit: Verónica Reyes – Queen Mob's Tea House". Queen Mob's Tea House. March 16, 2016. Archived from the original on January 24, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  7. ^ "Verónica Reyes". Red Hen Press. Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
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