Florida College English Association

Florida College English Association
2002 Conference

Fall Conference Announcement

Virgil Suarez, poet and novelist, will be the luncheon speaker at the October
Annual Meeting of Florida College English Association. Suarez’s Palm Crows,
published in 2001, provides us moments savoring the Cuba of his youth, the
land of his family, the longings for those lost days, the pain of separation.
In "Song to the Sugarcane," he shares his childhood "candy" with his
daughters, "You chew on a piece to remember how/ to love what you can’t have
all the time." His poetry, however, also embraces the future with hope, not
of a return to a day past, but to one of concord.   In "Diaspora," he states,
"I see the possibility of reconciliation,/ not the fixed gaze of hatred…we
will prevail." Echoes of Faulkner are here. The collection, focusing on life
in the United States and tempered by humor, leads us to understand his
parents’ feelings of exile and recognize differences in his own attitude
toward that loss. Other poems turn to the future. "Song to My Daughters"
focuses on the wonder and power of imagination, "they chant in unison, a
prayer for this moment/ which has made them both road-weary/ and tired. They
go upstairs, climb in bed,/ swallow the night with a yawn of silence."

Suarez is the author of several novels including The Cutter and Latin Jazz.
His other books of poetry include Garabato Poems and Spared Angola: Memories
from a Cuban-American Childhood. He has also edited anthologies on topics
such as Latino fiction and Cuban-American literature. Another book of poetry
is scheduled for release in May 2002. Suarez teaches at Florida State
University.

"An oracle of exile, memory, and fury."
                            Juan Felipe Herrera

"A richly textured voice….Lyrically articulates a Cuban American sense of
identity."
                            Alison Deming

"A salute to the deep, tender heart of Virgil Suarez! His instantly inviting
poems travel a wide terrain: immigration, life in the USA, the ongoing weave
of disparate bits, roughnesses sweetened by family and indelible flavors.
Suarez has a keen appetite, a wonderful sense of detail and description and a
dynamic energy….This is the voice of a true compadre on the trail.
                            Naomi Chihab Nye

"A sparkling collection of gutsy, wrenching poems. Already well-known as a
novelist with a splendid book Virgil Suarez establishes himself as one of the
most powerful and compelling voices in contemporary Latino poet.
                            Gustavo Perez Firmat