Fifteen years ago, on Saturday, November 1, 2008, we filmed scenes live during the Todos Santos celebrations in a cemetery in El Alto, Bolivia, where reside the tombs of the martyrs of the 2003 Guerra del gas.
So many Bolivian friends and professionals participated in the filming of the fictitious buriel of Hochi, a character in my historical novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace.
People were moved to participate in the making of this movie in order to honor their own experiences and the experiences of so many Bolivians during the U.S.-supported Bolivian government massacre of people peacefully protesting the proposed export of Bolivia's natural gas to Chile, where it would get processed and sold back to Bolivia as well as shipped to Mexico and California.
Los Sanganos de Sopocachi danced in the film. Los Heraldos from Ilave, Puno, Peru played panpipes, sikus, in the film.
My friends kept asking me when the film would come out. After a few years they stopped asking. But I kept working on it all this time. Filming more in a DIY studio in Portland, Oregon. Drawing lots and lots of drawings to supplement the story telling. Composing and improvising music with friends. Working with Bev Standish of Digital Elf Studios to clean up the audio of the dialog recorded in Portland, and editing most of the first section of the movie, as we sat side-by-side in front of her computer. (The first section of the movie is based on chapter one, "Dancing at the Blockade" of the book Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace). Thank you, Bev!
And learning to edit, working for months with the brilliant, kind and patient people at Open Signal / Portland Community Media to complete the first section and edit the rest of the movie, add the soundtrack and more!
Yep, for 15 years I've working on this movie sometimes a little, and this year a lot. And now the 89-minute movie, Panpipes for Peace, is on YouTube for all to see. For free.
EVENT POSTPONED: due to a public safety incident about a block away from our office, we’re postponing our event tonight until further notice. Thank you for understanding!
I'm honored to be a Special Guest reading with authors from Desert Palm Press and Launchpoint Press. I'll be reading from my bilingual PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalist book, Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose. Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia's most celebrated author, writes timeless feminist wisdom for today.
“There is a mysterious fire in her chest,” the groundbreaking feminist Bolivian poet Adela Zamudio (1854-1928) wrote in a work whose title declares, with blunt force, how she viewed herself: “Poet.” That “mysterious fire,” a few lines later, is called “sacred,” the “shard of a shattered soul,” and the very “blood of the heart.” For Zamudio, that fire was both Art itself and “the Idea,” and the act of pulling it out from one’s self and giving it voice in a society hostile to artists in general, poets in particular, and women above all else—well, that was an act of courage.
Now, almost a century after her death, Zamudio’s rousing, visceral, defiant work is at last available to the English-speaking world, thanks to this searing, sensitive translation from Yetter.
Yetter’s choices—from individual word choices to her selections of poems and prose pieces—illuminate the sweep and heat of the fire in the poet’s chest. The pieces here reveal Zamudio’s passions, interests, beliefs, and career, from the powerfully explicated feminism of poems like “Born a Man,” to her handling of subjects like depression and the feeling that one must wear a false face in society. These verses feel urgent and timely, and poems like “Masquerade” could be about Instagram: “In the dance of the world /our joy / is a dazzling garment /of fantasy / we use to cover /the hidden sadness / we repress.”
Even poems with traditional romantic forms and subjects (“To a Seagull,” “To a Tree”) pulse with a sense of fin-de-siècle ennui and, often, outrage about injustice, while one literally titled “End of a Century” builds to the bleak punchline of what “admirable and blessed” science has bequeathed us: the knowledge that, after our sufferings on Earth, we face the void. The long, surprising “Iron Crazy Woman,” meanwhile, and a poem of love for Zamudio’s sister, offer crucial consolations: the mystery and artistry of the former, and the deep feeling of the latter.
Takeaway: Trailblazing poems from a Bolivian feminist in English at long last.
A collection of writings from Bolivian poet, essayist, and feminist activist Zamudio (1854-1928) addresses enduring social issues.
Though the bulk of the author’s body of work, which spans poetry, prose, and nonfiction, dates back a century or more (the pieces here were originally published between 1887 and 1942), it’s only recently that political and social conditions have renewed interest in her writings and facilitated their translations for a global audience. This collection has two sections, one for poetry and one for prose, focused on themes including feminism (“Born a Man”), Indigenous identity and revolution (“End of the Century”), mental health (“To a Suicide”), and the viability of a battered society (“Masquerade”)—subjects that Zamudio grappled with as a woman far ahead of her time, culturally speaking. Yetter’s translations aptly retain the exigencies of the author’s writing, though the poems do lose their rhyme schemes in English. In the prose section, Zamudio employs an almost epistolary, introspective style to document many of Bolivia’s societal and political foibles; one story—“Yesterday’s Meeting”—uses an animal motif (much like George Orwell later used in Animal Farm (1945)) to relay bureaucratic tensions and flaws in democracy. Zamudio employs the struggles of women and Indigenous people as fodder, both for her own work and for broader revolution. Her imagery is both whimsical and grounded, optimistic and learned; as she writes in “Poet,” “it is necessary that she must dive into / Life’s most bitter dregs; / To know horrid misfortune / And rugged paths; / Hurt by life’s cliffs and thistles, / Wounded by the shocks of life. / That is inspiration!” We watch and read the news to understand what’s going on in the world, but we also seek out art to contextualize how all these events make us feel and show us how to get through them; Zamudio’s work serves these purposes brilliantly.
Thank you to everyone who attended my book reading/conversation yesterday with my esteemed PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalist (and winner) colleagues: Daniel Borzutzky, Conor Bracken, Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., and Tess Lewis. Oregon's Literary Arts' Programs for Writers Coordinator, Jessica Meza-Torres, facilitated our Zoom event with her laid-back calm presence and capable expertise. We were in good hands! You can see the video recording on Literary Arts' YouTube channel.
I'm thrilled beyond words that my bilingual book Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose was selected as a Finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation! PEN America awards are the Oscars of the U.S. literary world. Of course I (and my Fuente Fountain Books' editors Tania Cano and Michael Favala Goldman) will travel to NYC for the March 2nd gala Awards Ceremony!
Here's more about the book: First book in English showcasing the life and writings of
Bolivia's most celebrated writer and educator, Adela Zamudio. Her birthday is a national holiday in Bolivia. Self-taught,
Zamudio was the mother of feminism and women's education in Bolivia,
and was active for Indigenous People's rights. The President of Bolivia
crowned her with gold laurel leaves in honor of her cultural
contributions. Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated
from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, presents a bilingual overview of
Zamudio's work, much of which was previously untranslated. Several
chapters, including the Prolog by Bolivian Zamudio scholar
Virginia Ayllón, outline Zamudio's biography and the cultural context in
which she wrote. Adela Zamudio's celebration of lesbian love and her
ironic cultural critiques continue to resonate today.
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Yay!!!! I am honored to have received this prestigious award. Now more people will become acquainted with Adela Zamudio and her writings.
Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated from Spanish by Lynette Yetter Paperback ISBN-13: 9780984375677 eBook ISBN-13: 9780984375684 320 pages
"We should all learn about Adela Zamudio, a major Latin American figure, by reading this timely book." - Roberto González Echevarría, Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature, Yale University
First book in English showcasing the life and writings of Bolivia's most celebrated writer and educator, Adela Zamudio (1854-1928). Her birthday is a national holiday in Bolivia. Self-taught, Zamudio was the mother of feminism and women's education in Bolivia, and was active for Indigenous People's rights. The President of Bolivia crowned her with gold laurel leaves in honor of her cultural contributions. Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, presents a bilingual overview of Zamudio's work, much of which was previously untranslated. Several chapters, including the prolog by Bolivian Zamudio scholar Virginia Ayllón, outline Zamudio's biography and the cultural context in which she wrote. Adela Zamudio's celebration of lesbian love and her ironic cultural critiques continue to resonate today.
Lynette Yetter (Quiniapac) makes Music, Movies, Books and Art to inspire you.
Lynette played panpipes on the Academy Award Nominated documentary, "Recycled Life."
According to Northeast Intune Magazine, "If you can imagine what air, water, fire, and earth sound like in music notes, then you can imagine what Lynette Yetter’s songs sound like. ... spiritual in nature and have a worldly richness ... makes humans one with nature through the vibrations echoing in the bamboo reeds ... Her music gives nature its own expressive sound."
One song she turned into an award winning music video - Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. The video shot up to #1 on a viewer requested television playlist.
Lynette has recorded two CDs (in Los Angeles and in Bolivia) - "Music of the Andes and More...," and "Inka Spirit".
You can get inspired with her novel, "Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace", her creative nonfiction book "72 Money Saving Tips for the 99%", and her PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalist bilingual book "Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose"
