Magda Martínez
Magda’s poetry is inspired by lo cotidiano, the everyday. She writes, that it “is not just what or where you are everyday, it is the thousand and one things that make you who you are everyday. The scent of your mate, the curve of your work shoes … the way a small child waves at you at the bus stop.” Magda is inspired by closing her eyes and listening, by the desire to find a “place in our soul that feed us.” In her visioning of her work, she wants to use words and poetry to save neighborhoods. As a Nuyorican, Losaida (the Lower East Side) was her home, no matter where she went. In Philadelphia, the El Barrio is her home. Losaida is now the East Village and El Barrio is under the northbound shadow of gentrification. These places are where the stories of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. began. She asks, “How can writing protect these places?” Through writing and poetry workshops with her community, she wants to fill the neighborhood with stories that speak to their existence; to say, “we are here.” Magda creates her art because she feels “as part of a colonized people that we are so afraid to do it. Most of the time words are used to judge us. It’s important in my work for me to reclaim the words, to document my journey, our journey in all its glory and pain.” Magda’s writing is grounded in community life. She shares her art and creates art with others through public readings, writing workshops and performances at places like Graterford Prison and Noches de Arte en El Barrio. Her readings and workshops reinforce her belief that the writing and sharing of stories create change.
Awarded Grants
2005
Leeway Transformation Award (LTA)
Related grantees
Overview
Magda’s poetry is inspired by lo cotidiano, the everyday. She writes, that it “is not just what or where you are everyday, it is the thousand and one things that make you who you are everyday. The scent of your mate, the curve of your work shoes … the way a small child waves at you at the bus stop.” Magda is inspired by closing her eyes and listening, by the desire to find a “place in our soul that feed us.” In her visioning of her work, she wants to use words and poetry to save neighborhoods. As a Nuyorican, Losaida (the Lower East Side) was her home, no matter where she went. In Philadelphia, the El Barrio is her home. Losaida is now the East Village and El Barrio is under the northbound shadow of gentrification. These places are where the stories of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. began. She asks, “How can writing protect these places?” Through writing and poetry workshops with her community, she wants to fill the neighborhood with stories that speak to their existence; to say, “we are here.” Magda creates her art because she feels “as part of a colonized people that we are so afraid to do it. Most of the time words are used to judge us. It’s important in my work for me to reclaim the words, to document my journey, our journey in all its glory and pain.” Magda’s writing is grounded in community life. She shares her art and creates art with others through public readings, writing workshops and performances at places like Graterford Prison and Noches de Arte en El Barrio. Her readings and workshops reinforce her belief that the writing and sharing of stories create change.
2001
Window of Opportunity Grant (WOO)
Related grantees
Overview
Travel, lodging and materials for a script development workshop of Converse Sneakers with El Centro Su Teatro in Denver, CO, July, 2001.
