Appearing May 4 @ 7 PM
Mia Leonin is the author of four poetry collections: Fable of the Pack-Saddle Child (BkMk Press), Braid, Unraveling the Bed, and Chance Born (Anhinga Press), and a memoir, Havana and Other Missing Fathers (University of Arizona Press). Leonin has been awarded fellowships from the State of Florida for poetry and creative nonfiction, two Money for Women grants by the Barbara Deming Fund, and she has been a fellow at the NEA/Annenberg Institute on Theater and Musical Theater. Leonin has published in New Letters, Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, Guernica, Indiana Review, Witness, North American Review, River Styx, Chelsea, and others. Her poetry has been translated to Spanish and she has been invited to read at the Miami International Book Fair, Poesia en el Laurel in Granada, Spain, and in Barcelona, Spain. Leonin teaches creative writing at the University of Miami.
Alexandra Lytton Regalado’s poetry collection, Matria, is the winner of the St. Lawrence Book Award (Black Lawrence Press, 2017). She is a CantoMundo fellow and her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry 2018, Narrative, Gulf Coast, and Creative Nonfiction among others. Co-founder of Kalina press, Alexandra is author, editor, and/or translator of more than ten Central American-themed books. She lives in San Salvadora and serves as president of the board of directors of the El Salvador Museum of Art.
RSVP: TheBetsyHotel.com/calendar to gain access
About the presenting partners
The Betsy-South Beach (@thebetsyhotel) is a luxury boutique hotel located on Ocean Drive, boasting a globally regarded arts and culture program. Over the past ten years, the hotel has become a catalyst for energized discourse, innovative thinking, and charitable community conscience. The Betsy has been the home of SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami) for four years and is also the home of the O, Miami Poetry Festival, the Miami Classical Music Festival and the founding corporate sponsor for Reading Queer. The Betsy has hosted more than 1,000 artists in its Writers’ Room artist residency and its nine art galleries are open to the public. The Betsy is owned and operated by the Plutzik Goldwasser family. Contact Deborah Briggs, The Betsy Hotel, at dbriggs@thebetsyhotel.com.
The Miami Beach Urban Studios (@FIUMBUS) are a collider for people and ideas in arts, design, technology and the sciences. Headquartered on iconic Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, MBUS is a Cultural Anchor in the City of Miami Beach and, with over 150 events each year, is a creative space for students and the community in the heart of one of the most vibrant artistic urban centers in the world. John Stuart is the Executive Director. Contact John Stuart, FIU MBUS, at stuartj@fiu.edu.
Supporting Women Writers in Miami (@SWWIM) was co-founded in 2016 by Jen Karetnick and Catherine Esposito Prescott. SWWIM publishes, promotes & celebrates women-identifying writers with a year-round reading series held at The Betsy-South Beach in Miami Beach, FL, and through the online poetry journal SWWIM Every Day (www.swwim.org). Poems first published in SWWIM Every Day have been included in Best American Poetry, The Orison Anthology, Poets.org, and The Writer’s Almanac. Others have appeared in Glass Poetry Press’s year-end reading list, been finalists for Best of the Net, and garnered Pushcart nominations from contributing editors. Poet Caridad Moro-Gronlier joined the SWWIM editorial leadership team in 2019. Contact Catherine Esposito Prescott, Editor-in-Chief, SWWIM, at swwimmiami@gmail.com.
To learn more about Mia Leonin, click here
To learn more about Alexandra Lytton Regalado, click here
These events will be presented with Closed Captioning. Support for these services is provided by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, in keeping with both The Betsy and FIU’s deep commitment to accessibility. To request materials in accessible format, and/or any disability accommodation, contact cmello@fiu.edu five days in advance to initiate your request. TTY users may also call 711 (Fla Relay Service).