CantoMundo is an American literary organization founded in 2009 to support Latino poets and poetry.[1] It hosts an annual poetry workshop dedicated to the creation, documentation, and critical analysis of Latinx poetry.[2]
CantoMundo was founded in 2009 in San Antonio, Texas when Norma Elia Cantú, Celeste Guzman Mendoza, Pablo Miguel Martínez, Deborah Paredez, and Carmen Tafolla,[3] inspired by the Cave Canem workshops for African-American poets,[4] organized a workshop for Latino writers. The first workshop was held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2010.[5] From 2011 to 2016 the workshops were held at the University of Texas, Austin.[6][5] From 2017 to 2019 Columbia University, in New York City served as home for the program and workshops.[7] In August 2019, the University of Arizona Poetry Center formally announced a three-year partnership to host the CantoMundo workshops in Tucson, Arizona beginning in 2020.[8]
CantoMundo is one of over 25 members of the Poetry Coalition, an alliance of nonprofit organizations that aim to promote poetry that is coordinated by the Academy of American Poets.[9] In January 2019, the Academy of American Poets allocated a portion of a $2.2 million endowment from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Poetry Coalition, some of which went to CantoMundo.[10]
During the four day writing conference, fellows are divided into two groups of 12-15 poets that engage in workshops with invited faculty members, attend keynote lectures, and participate in panel discussions.[11]
During the weekend, fellows also have the opportunity to share their work in front of an audience at the Friday and Saturday night readings which are free and open to the general public.[11] Readings are sponsored by Columbia University's Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College, and the Office of the Dean of Social Science in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.[12]
The organization has partnered with the University of Arkansas Press for an annual book prize. Edited by Deborah Paredez and Celeste Guzman, the first judge for the prize is celebrated poet Rafael Campo.[23]