"Mérida from the roof" drawing and watercolor by Elizabeth Bishop, 1942
About USPiM
USPiM was formed in 2008. We introduce American and Mexican poets. Annually, we
bring a faculty of American poets to Mexico to
conduct workshops and give free public readings. Established and emerging Mexican poets present readings and occasionally conduct workshops. We award five
scholarships per year to poets and writers in each state in Mexico where we hold our workshops. Scholarship recipients participate free of charge in
order to integrate our program with existing poetry communities throughout Mexico and
broaden the opportunity for collaborations. The Mérida
Fellowship Award is awarded to one American poet (a U.S. citizen) annually to participate in all program activities free of charge. The Mérida Fellow provides a reading on the same evening as one of our faculty members.
We provide a supportive writers' community for participants. Poets can expect a productive and intimate program with no more than 8 persons in each workshop. Workshops include poetry in all of its forms and manifestations and generally do not concentrate solely on critiques of existing poems. New work and collaborations between participants, faculty and featured readers are encouraged, as are translation collaborations with Mexican poets. With our first day orientation, meet-ups and day trips, participants become better acquainted before the first day of workshops begin.
Our journal, Pyramid, publishes poems by current participants and we hope to publish the journal with a better binding in the future.
We arrange Spanish lessons for participants. Workshops are primarily conducted in English, with one or two bilingual faculty members each year. Featured Mexican poets may conduct bi-lingual workshops. Readings are in English and Spanish (and some indigenous languages with Spanish and English translations).
Post-program readings by participants and faculty are occasionally arranged and expanding the readings to smaller cities in the U.S. will be a goal for our future. Our website, email newsletters and blog keep everyone abreast of our events, residencies and participant and faculty news. Visit our Event Archives section to get an overview of our previous events.
Our Translation and Writing Residencies in Mexico will arrange for poets to reside in a colonial city in Mexico in order to work on translations of poems or create new work, to be published by non-profit publishing partners. Select Translation Residencies will be filmed as part of our ongoing film series, Two Voices and One Vision (dos voces y una visión).
We promise an exciting exploration of the voices, minds and hearts of both nations.
Sheila Lanham
Director
About our logo: The Maya hieroglyph AJ tz'i-b'a (aj tz'iib') (pronounced tz' éeeb) meaning "he of the writing," or "scribe";designates the occupation of scribe.