On the cappuccino foam a cat’s face is drawn —subtly— and the aroma of coffee is dispersed everywhere. Outside, the street is wet. The rain of mid-October falls superbly on the roofs of the north center of Quito, procuring that sensation, which for some is magical, although for others —the pessimists— it is a sad afternoon.
After the first sip of coffee, Mireia Ortega Enriquezproject manager “The 30 of Ecuador” and Lunada Ediciones, begins to tell how the Anthology Diasporas of the Abyssal, which is the result of project “The 30 of Ecuador”.
Los 30 originally emerged in Mexico, in April 2021 —he says—, they are poets who work through a virtual workshop, where they meet on Mondays starting at 8:00 p.m. and do a self-managed workshop. They are all writers, but, above all, poets who work in the profession of poetry and the poem,” he explains.
Mireia traveled to that country for literary reasons and proposed to Los 30 de México the possibility of replicating that idea in Ecuador. “One of the biggest dreams, really, is to start a kind of poetic movement in Latin America,” she says.
Then, in February 2022, the poetic collective “Los 30 de Ecuador” was formed —he says—, while the sparkle in his blue eyes lights up and at the same time he savors a second sip of coffee.
How was the collective Los 30 de Ecuador formed?
Through my career and as editorial director I know many people who are in the business of writing poems, so I began to contact them. We managed to get five together, each of them calling others until we reached 30.
Was there any requirement?
Specifically, that they work on poetry and the poem, that they dedicate themselves to the job of working on the word, but not only that, but that they are willing to do workshops every Monday, from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Why do they have to be poets?
The poem is so intense, so urgent, it has a very strong emotional charge, it’s like finding yourself in a kind of vertigo too. I think that poetry is when the poet reaches that very big emotional point that works on him in his own privacy. The poem is that work, that piece that screams on its own and that the reader is capable of encountering that piece and without having to have several pages can be confronted with a lot of images, emotions…
What is the difference between the poem and poetry?
The narrative is much longer, there is a descent to take like another path and there is also a spectacular vertigo. So, let’s say that prose and poetry are different, but there are also similarities.
What is the objective of the 30 of Ecuador?
The dream is for it to be sustained over time and to broaden its horizons, when they are projects of good will and of wills, sometimes many fall by the wayside, we have had setbacks, not all of us are here, 15 have remained. But we want to open up and keep dreaming and hopefully these voices generate this poetic movement in Latin America.
What have you achieved so far in the workshops?
We managed to work on an anthology that began to be worked on both in Ecuador and Mexico, through these workshops —he says—, while enjoying a third sip of coffee. In the month of July we made a selection of fifteen poems by fifteen poets from each country, so there are 30 poems that make up the international Ecuadorian-Mexican anthology called Nether Diasporas -Explain.
Three themes were established to work on the anthology: city, death music and transmutation; and the last one was a free theme. The poems that were written wander in the lanes that allow these general themes.
the anthology Nether Diasporas, which is composed of 142 pageswhose editor is the Mexican poet, Abraham Pérez Aragónparticipated and I won the International Mobility Fund contest delivered by the Institute of Promotion of Creativity and Innovation (IFCI). This award allows a commission of eight poets to travel to Mexico for the launch.
The publication of the anthology will be on November 23 in Mexico Cityat the College of Latin American Writers and at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana, then they will make a light tour to Chiapas, to the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
The rain does not stop. Mireia drinks the last sip of coffee and only scattered remains of foam remain in the cup, but there is not a single trace of the cat’s face, however, on the walls of Tres gatos cafeteria and bookstore, there are many.
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
