Pushcart Prize nomination for "Native" by Bainbridge Island Press!

The lead poem, "Native" of my latest poetry chapbook, Simultaneous States (Bainbridge Island Press, 2025) was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by the wonderful editors of said press.  

I'm very excited and honored that they thought the poem was worthy of the recognition!

"Native" is two-part poem that begins in my childhood in Puerto Rico attending a school on a U.S. Army base and ends with my current life in Miami, Florida.  It deals with identity issues that many Hispanic persons face when growing up in this country.  It was a very timely honor to receive during Hispanic Heritage month!

Back in July, Tamarah Rockwood of Bainbridge Island Press dedicated an entire podcast to "Native" as part of their Poetics Podcast series.  Her incredible insight and sensitivity surpassed all my expectations.  

Arte Latino NOW 2022!

Very gratified to be included in the virtual exhibit Arte Latino NOW 2022. which includes my poem in two parts--"Native."

Beatriz F. Fernandez: Writer - ARTE LATINO NOW 2022 Virtual Exhibition, Performance and Readings (dropmark.com)

This poem was inspired by a class I attended in the Fall, 2021 with Presidential Inaugural poet Richard Blanco, and by his new book, How to Love a Country.  

Ending the old year on a positive note: Boricua en la Luna anthology!

I'm very excited and honored to announce that Boricua en la Luna: An Anthology of Puerto Rican voices just accepted two of my poems for their upcoming publication!  It's a great way to end this year, which doesn't have too many good things associated with it, in my mind.  Boricua en la Luna's profits will benefit the Hispanic Federation's efforts on behalf of the island's hurricanes Maria and Irma recovery effort.  Many thanks to editor Elena Aponte for her vision and effort on behalf of the island and support for diverse voices in literature!

From their site:

We want diverse voices from Puerto Rico: stories, poems, and essays that will help the world understand the wonderful people who live on the island, a place that has given the world immensely talented artists, actors, writers, poets, musicians, librarians, politicians, humanitarians, scientists, and athletes-- a place that still needs our support and our love.

Boricua En La Luna will be available in Mid-2019 in both electronic and print formats.

Backbone Press will publish The Ocean Between Us!

I'm excited and honored to announce that Backbone Press chose my chapbook The Ocean Between Us as one of their two Fall 2017 publications from 120+ entries.  It will be in the pre-order stage for a few weeks ($9 via paypal).  The Riddle of Longing by Faisal Mohyuddin is the other chapbook chosen. Faisal just won the the 2017 Sexton Prize selected by Kimiko Hahn! 

Backbone's description: 

The Ocean Between Us is a collection of poems wrapped in memories and language. Beatriz Fernandez artfully weaves together dazzling imagery and alluring sounds to create concrete visions of Puerto Rico, Florida, and a geography of loss. With the ability to use the perfect words to describe imperfect times, she poses questions that pierce the human spirit. Unsure of the answer, this is a book of poetry that is rich with the “embryonic code of things to come.”

I'm really happy to have another chapbook published so soon after my first, Shining from a Different Firmament, in 2015 (Finishing Line Press).

The Ocean Between Us is very different than Shining, which was mostly a collection of persona poems about historical, literary and legendary women.  Ocean, as I described in my last post, is a collection of 25 poems about my personal experiences in Puerto Rico and Florida, from childhood to the present.  The first poem, Calle del Cristo, is an exception in that it is a persona poem.

The suffering of all Puerto Ricans as the island has endured two hurricanes is omnipresent in my mind these days.  My family members are safe and being very brave about the circumstances but I can't imagine living through that.  We were in Miami during Hurricane Andrew, but it did not hit our area directly.  Irma again sideswiped us, leaving only fences and trees down, mostly.  We are so lucky to have our homes and our lives to go back to.

Backbone Press finalist!

I'm very happy to learn that my chapbook, The Ocean Between Us, is a finalist in Backbone Press's Spring open reading session.

Backbone Press is a small press for ethnic poets and is interested in:

language that is elegant and provocative; poetry that informs and engages us in broader cultural conversations.

Even if my chapbook doesn't get accepted for publication, it is an honor to make it to the final round!

The Ocean Between Us is a 25-poem chapbook divided into two sections: Puerto Rico poems and Florida poems.  The journey begins with a brief visit back to Puerto Rico that brings back many memories of my childhood spent there. I’m the daughter of an immigrant and an islander whose ancestors also immigrated to their respective homelands.  Within every generation of my family there came a decision: to leave or to stay, and my ancestors always chose to leave, for their own sake and for their children’s.  From this restless heritage I derived a curious lack of home sense—I’ve always been neither one thing nor another, neither native nor alien.  These poems are an attempt to gather all these emotions together into a cohesive whole—to define what we mean by “home” and to highlight that perhaps it’s the ocean between that really matters:  that ever-changing, ever-the-same body that divides us and yet also unites us into a single body.

"Calle del Cristo, Old San Juan" chosen for Arte Latino Now 2017 exhibit

ARTE LATINO NOW 2017 has chosen my poem about Puerto Rico, "Calle del Cristo, Old San Juan" to be read and displayed in next year's exhibit at the

Max L. Jackson Gallery, Watkins Building, Queens University of Charlotte, Jan 17-Feb 17, 2017.

From their site:

"Sponsored by The Center for Latino Studies at Queens University of Charlotte in partnership with artist Edwin Gil, Art Sí and Queens' Departments of Art and World Languages, ARTE LATINO NOW seeks to highlight the exciting cultural and artistic contributions of Latinos in the United States.

 We invite artists who self-define as Latino and live and work in the United States to submit an original creative work in their medium of choice. Winners will be exhibited at Queens University of Charlotte in Spring 2017."

This poem is another offspring of the Key West Literary Seminar Writers' workshop. I received lots of positive feedback about it from the group and altered it slightly before sending it off to the competition.

I hope to visit the exhibit when I go to Charlotte for my Mom's 94th birthday!

Street Voice will publish three of my poems!

Andreas Weiland of the international, multilingual online journal Street Voice has accepted three of my poems:

Poem for my father (previously published at Label Me Latina/o),  
In the shadow of the Miami Metrorail overpass,
and Departures,

for publication in a future issue.  Street Voice's themed issues feature poetry, translations of poems, and articles from poets all over the world.

Mr. Weiland also edits an online art journal: Art in Society and he would like to encourage those writing on Latino/Latina art and theater to send pertinent articles for a future issue.  He also accepts
poems in Spanish, with an English translation

March 6th marks the anniversary of my father's death many years ago, so I'm very happy this poetical tribute to him will once more appear online. In the shadow is based on an encounter in downtown Miami with an unforgettable homeless man.  Departures is a poem about the internal and external voyage immigrants make and honors my matriarchal ancestors, beginning with my great-grandmother Rosa, to my mother, Luisa.