Poetry: The PALABRA Archive Releases 50 New Streaming Recordings

From the Library of Congress:

Following its annual National Hispanic Heritage Month tradition, the Hispanic Reading Room in the Latin American, Caribbean and European division (LAC&E) announces the digital release of 50 new streaming audio recordings in the PALABRA Archive  — the Library’s treasure trove of recordings of 20th and 21st century Luso-Hispanic poets and writers reading from their works. With recorded authors from all over Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean, and other regions with Hispanic and Portuguese heritage populations, the PALABRA Archive, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, includes close to 850 recordings, a growing portion of which are available for online streaming.

The newly released batch includes recently recorded sessions and some historic gems. Among these are a reading with the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Meg Medina (the first Latina YA author to hold this position), and an interview with Mexican author and journalist Elena Poniatowska. Conducted in March of 2023 in her residence in Mexico City by American writer Alice Driver, this conversation with the 91-year-old French-born Mexican icon (and the second recording of hers for the PALABRA Archive, is a huge achievement for the collection. In the interview, Poniatowska’s reflects on her remarkable journey, as well as on her unique interplay between fiction and journalism and her life-long dedication to documenting the lives of women.

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Click here to see the complete list of newly available recordings. We hope you enjoy our new digital treasures!

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