September 19, 2005 Editor to Discuss "Red Hot Salsa," a New Poetry Anthology, on Sept. 29

Editor and translator Lori Marie Carlson will discuss her new book, “Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States,” at the Library of Congress at noon on Thursday, Sept. 29, in the Mary Pickford Theater on the third floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.

A book signing will follow the presentation, which is sponsored jointly by the Hispanic Division and the Center for the Book. The program is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed.

Luis Alberto Ambroggio and Claudia Quiroz Cahill, two of the poets who contributed to “Red Hot Salsa” (Henry Holt, 2005), will read their poems and be available to sign books.

In his introduction to the book, award-winning author Oscar Hijuelos describes the contributions of the writers in the volume: “Their intense feelings about survival and “becoming” are palpable on the page. And the Spanish/English versions of their poetry are equally beautiful, stirring, and worthy of our humanity.”

“Red Hot Salsa” follows Carlson’s successful anthology “Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States” (1994). Once again she has assembled a selection of works by young poets that describe, in English and Spanish, their lives, families and hopes for the future. Several poets who appeared in “Cool Salsa” also contributed to “Red Hot Salsa,” including Gary Soto, Gina Valdes and the two poets who are part of the program, Ambroggio and Cahill.

Carlson is the author or editor of seven books for young adults, including “Moccasin Thunder: Contemporary American Indian Stories for Young Adults,” which will be published in October. She also has written two novels: “The Sunday Tertulia” (2000) and “Flamboyant” (2002). She holds a master’s degree in Hispanic Literature from Indiana University.

Established in 1939, the Hispanic Division is the Library’s center for the study of the cultures and societies of Latin America, the Caribbean, the Iberian Peninsula and U.S. Latinos, as well as other areas where Spanish and Portuguese influences have been significant. For further information about the division and its resources, visit www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic.

The Center for the Book, established in 1977, is a public-private partnership that uses the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books, reading, literacy and libraries. For further information about its activities and those of its 50 state affiliates and more than 80 organizational national reading promotion partners, visit www.loc.gov/cfbook.