I was very sad to hear yesterday about the deaths of two special writers.
Poet Francisco X. Alarcón died on Friday. It was good to read here about a tribute event he was able to attend on the 10th, and El Tecolote will be featuring a special tribute on 28th January, for which they invite submissions of poetry, artwork or images to be sent to editorATeltecoloteDOTorg.
I love this 2011 Reading Rockets Meet the Author video in which Francisco shares some of his poems and talks about how he became a poet, writing in both Spanish and English, and his commitment to the oral tradition of his roots:
The question for me of poetry is really more of a question than an answer. My poetry doesn’t really provide answers; amd I think the reader becomes engaged in this challenging process.
And I only heard yesterday that author Andrea Cheng died last month. Again, I feel deeply saddened. I love her books, especially Grandfather Counts and Where the Steps Are. Andrea drew a great deal on both her family history and her observation of her children for inspiration in her stories. She talked about this in her 2006 interview with PaperTigers, and also talked about her grandparents for the PaperTigers blog here.
Both Francisco’s and Andrea’s writing will continue to touch readers’ hearts and minds. May they rest in peace.
