Selena Didn’t Know Spanish Either: Poems
Marisa Tirado
Winner of the 2021 Robert Phillips Chapbook Prize
Selena Didn’t Know Spanish Either is a debut poetry collection which seeks Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla as a means of reconnecting to the speaker’s cultural identity. As Spanish language and culture becomes more accessible to non-Latinx populations, the speaker grapples with her own complex story of assimilation. Modern marginalization, appropriation, tokenizing, and fetishizing are examined in this multi-generational memoir tracking a Latinx family’s journey to assimilation. This dynamic collection is far-reaching, exploring BIPOC experiences in predominantly white cultures.
Selena Didn’t Know Spanish Either is the winner of the 2021 Robert Phillips Chapbook Prize, judged and selected by Benjamin Garcia.
Marisa Tirado is a Latina poet from Chicago and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the founder of an international collective called Protest Through Poetry which provides seminars, publishing opportunities, and creative community for activist poets of color. Marisa has been selected for fellowships from Kenyon Review, Image Journal, and Macondo, and her work can be found in Triquarterly, Colorado Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere.
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