‘Breakout Moment’: More Books Reflect Mexican American Kids, Teens
*If you’ve wondered what a Poet Laureate does, here’s a good example. The first U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, is raising the profile of Latino writers, talking across the country about the Latino “breakout moment.” VL
By Juan Castillo, NBC News
SAN MARCOS, TX. – The growing movement to reflect the lives of Mexican American children and young adults through the power of words has come a long way.
[pullquote]”Our culture is never talked about and if it is, it’s always these preconceived notions and it’s always about us lacking a certain degree of intelligence.”[/pullquote]Just ask new U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, who over the weekend told a rapt audience of writers, illustrators and multicultural children’s book advocates at Texas State University, “This is our breakout moment.”
The first Mexican American to hold the position, Herrera spoke at the 2015 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, which celebrated its 20th anniversary. Herrera spoke excitedly about mounting positive bellwethers – more Latino authors, more interest from Hollywood and from corporate America, “more global interest, more global writers and voices.”
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