Alzheimer's Poetry Day- Albuquerque

Alzheimer’s Poetry Day Comes to Albuquerque

Alzheimer’s Poetry Day will take place 11am to 1pm, on Saturday, November 5th at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th Street SW, Albuquerque.
Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Alzheimer’s Poetry Day is a celebration of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project (APP). Readings will be in English and Spanish. Guest artist Jimmy Santiago Baca will give a reading of his original work. Gary Glazner, founder and Executive Director of the APP and APP Spanish Director and poet Michelle Otero will read classic, well-loved poems and poems written by those with Alzheimer’s.

They will also speak about the APP and the findings from the pilot program conducted in New Mexico, as well as provide tips on using poetry to connect with people living with dementia. A highlight of the event will be the creation of an original poem by the poets and the audience. This event is designed for everyone from activity directors to caregivers to persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia and their families.

Jimmy Santiago Baca collections include Selected Poems / Poemas Selectos (New Directions, 2009), C-Train and Thirteen Mexicans: Dream Boy's Story (Grove Press, 2002), Healing Earthquakes (2001), Set This Book on Fire (1999), In the Way of the Sun (1997), Black Mesa Poems (1995), Poems Taken from My Yard (1986), and What's Happening (1982). A self-styled "poet of the people," Baca conducts writing workshops with children and adults at countless elementary, junior high and high schools, colleges, universities, reservations, barrio community centers, white ghettos, housing projects, correctional facilities and prisons from coast to coast.
More info at jimmysantiagobaca.com

Michelle Otero A writer, performer, and teacher, Michelle Otero is the author of Malinche's Daughter, an essay collection based on her work with women survivors of sexual assault in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her work has appeared in Artful Dodge, Brevity, and Puerto del Sol, and her awards include an Associated Writing Programs Intro Journal Award and a Fulbright Fellowship. She is member of the Macondo Writers' Workshop.

Together with visual artist Chrissie Orr, she teaches multigenerational art and storytelling workshops through El Otro Lado: The Stories that Connect Us. She holds a B.A. in History from Harvard University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. A tenth-generation New Mexican, she is Creative Director of Valle Encantado, an organization promoting sustainable development initiatives in the Atrisco historic core in Albuquerque, and co-founder of Connecting Community Voices, an Albuquerque-based organization building positive social change through creative community expression.

More info at michelleotero.wordpress.com

This event is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association, New Mexico Chapter and New Mexico Literary Arts.