Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo Poetry Workshops Keynote Speaker
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation and Poetry Foundation and is a member of Macondo Writers’ Workshop. Her work is published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, and American Poetry Review among others. A dramatization of her poem "Our Lady of the Water Gallons," directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño, can be viewed at latinopia.com.
Bermejo is a cofounder of Women Who Submit, a literary organization using social media and community events to empower women authors to submit work for publication, and curates the quarterly reading series HITCHED. She received a BA in Theatre Arts from California State University, Long Beach and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She facilitates online and in-person workshops in poetry and submission strategies with UCLA Extension, Writing Workshops LA, and inspiration2publication, and she is a workshop coordinator for teen art classes with ArtworxLA.
Workshops offered: Submission Strategies • "Building Up to Emerging" - Strategies for Applying to workshops, residencies, and fellowships • Witness & Social Justice Poetry • Location Poetry • "On Home" - A celebration of personal history and those we call family • Mexican-American Representation in American Culture • Monuments & Memorials
Services offered: 1 hour talks • 1 hour workshops • 3 hour workshops • Multimedia presentations • Poetry readings • Elementary school visits • High school visits • College and Graduate school visits
“Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo explores what it means to live on the border, a literal and figurative image that takes on multiple meanings. There are the rich and vibrant stories of her Mexican grandparents and parents, stories she carries with her and finds still relevant in modern-day Los Angeles; there is a traditional view of womanhood and the reality of being a contemporary woman in the United States; there is a straddlle of Spanish and English, a clamor of tongues; there is the dividing actual line between Mexico and the United States, which people risk their lives to cross each day.”
“Xochitl’s vision and direction for the class were right up my alley—as a teacher, she is open yet directed, stimulating and positive.”
“Things to Know is a powerful poetic vehicle that transports the reader right into the middle of the terrifying, perilous journey Central American immigrants risk for the chance at a better life within the boundaries of the United States.”
“Every writer’s work this night incorporated Spanish words and phrases, which most of the audience seemed to understand, judging by the small murmurs of assent... The beginning of Xochitl’s website bio reads, “Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a first generation Chicana,” and Hitched reflects Xochitl’s effort to seek out similarly marginalized voices.”