"To Love an Island: Reading and Conversation with Poet / Organizer Ana Portnoy Brimmer"

Ana Portnoy Brimmer, poet and organizer from Puerto Rico, will be talking about and reading from her debut poetry collection, To Love An Island. This book offers the stark recognition that disaster is political and colonialism the most violent of storms. Beginning with the aftermath of Hurricane María and spanning the summer insurrection of 2019 and subsequent earthquakes in Puerto Rico, To Love An Island is an exploration of collective trauma, an outpour of amassed grief, a desire for unleashed mourning, a fuck-you to resilience, a brandishing of resistance. Of brazen decolonial conviction—it summons tempests, departures, strawberries, cacerolas, mangroves, guillotines, all the complexities of loving a place under imperial duress.

Ana Portnoy Brimmer is a poet and organizer from Puerto Rico. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature from the University of Puerto Rico, and is an alumna of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. To Love an Island, her debut poetry collection, was originally the winner of YesYes Books’ 2019 Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest. The Spanish edition is forthcoming from La Impresora. Ana is the winner of the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest 2020, and was named one of Poets & Writers 2021 Debut Poets. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Southeast Review, Sixth Finch, Periódico de Poesía-UNAM, Sx Salon, Aftershocks of Disaster: Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm, among others. Ana is the daughter of Mexican-Jewish immigrants, resides in Puerto Rico and finds hope in the poetics of dance parties and revolution.

Ana Portnoy Brimmer es poeta y organizadora de Puerto Rico. Obtuvo su bachillerato y maestría en Literatura en Inglés de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, y es egresada del MFA en Escritura Creativa de Rutgers University-Newark. To Love an Island, su primera colección de poesía, originalmente fue ganadora del premio Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest 2019 de YesYes Books. La edición en Español del libro está próxima a salir con La Impresora. Ana es ganadora del premio 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest 2020 y fue nombrada una de les Poets & Writers 2021 Debut Poets. Su trabajo ha sido publicado en el Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Southeast Review, Sixth Finch, Periódico de Poesía-UNAM, Sx Salon, Aftershocks of Disaster: Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm, entre otros. Es hija de inmigrantes Mexicanxs-Judixs, reside en Puerto Rico y encuentra esperanza en la poética del bailoteo y la revolución.