Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend has a thriving poetry scene. The People's Literary Festival is an annual, free, public poetry festival that is held in February. Check out their website to explore past year schedules, and learn more about local and visiting poets at TAMU-CC and beyond. The Windward Review is a poetry and creative writing journal and blog published annually.
The Bell Library is premiering a series of video interviews with local Islander poets every week in April on the library’s blog and on the library’s YouTube channel in honor of National Poetry Month. As each video and blog post is released, it will also be posted on this page!
In honor of National Poetry Month, we'll be interviewing local poets all through April 2024! Dr. Rossy Evelin Lima, an Assistant Professor in Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Humanities Department, is an esteemed writer, scholar, and translator, boasting an illustrious career marked by remarkable achievements. With three poetry collections and two children's books to her credit, Dr. Lima's literary prowess has earned her widespread acclaim, featuring in esteemed journals, magazines, and anthologies across numerous countries and languages. Notably, she is the founder of Jade Publishing and serves as the Board President and Executive Director of Latino Book Review.
At the conclusion of this interview. Dr. Lima read 2 of her poems from her poetry collection Migrare/Mutare. Learn more about Dr. Lima's work at https://www.rossylima.com/.
Daunte Gaiter is a Marine Biology major from Dallas, Texas in his senior year at TAMU-CC who describes himself as "a scientist by day and a writer by night." Daunte’s passion is writing and reading among other things. He feels that poetry is a comfortable place to express his thoughts. Daunte’s work has appeared in the Windward Review.
Jayne-Marie Linguist is a TAMU-CC graduate student and poet from north Houston, Texas. Jayne-Marie described her work as very personal, and her poems draw on her experiences coming to terms with her identity as a fat queer woman, grief, mental illness, and her journey into fat liberation. Jayne-Marie’s poetry has been published in the Windward Review. She recently was a featured panelist in the Embodying Women’s Bodies in Writing session at the 2024 People’s Literary Festival. At the conclusion of this interview, Jayne-Marie also read three of her poems and spoke briefly about each poem's format and themes.
Juan Manuel Pérez is an award-winning Mexican-American & Indigenous poet, Gulf War (1991) veteran, actor, former Poet Laureate of Corpus Christi (2019-2020), and author of multiple books. Learn more about Juan's work at juanmperez.com.
J.L. Wright is a TAMU-CC faculty member and published author and poet. Joy began writing poetry as a young girl, publishing her first poem in the local newspaper at 10. She has since written three poetry collections exploring her experiences in childhood and adult life, Unadoptable Joy, Homeless Joy, and Unsettled Joy.