My poetry book, Black Mestiza, is available!!! Yay! Check it out here or any place you get books.
Black Mestiza is Available
Yael’s Feature in Poets & Writers
I am so honored to be named one of Poets and Writers 5 of 50 for 2025. Read my essay and the words of the other writers here.
And please join me on November 6th at 4 pm eastern for a reading of our work. Register here!
Writing a poem a day for september
This September, I am writing a poem a day for Tupelo Press’ fundraiser 30/30. Is it a crazy idea? Yeah. It’s the middle of the month, and I am feeling the squeeze, but writing, writing, writing! There are new poems daily from me and five other poets. Check them out.
And please support my crazed poetry writing adventure and donate to support Tupelo. Donate
Online event with City Lights Booksellers
Yael Valencia Aldana, in conversation with Jennifer Maritza McCauley
Yael Valencia Aldana in conversation with Jennifer Maritza McCauley in an evening of discussion and poetry reading. City Lights and the University of Kentucky Press celebrate the publication of Black Mestiza: Poems by Yael Valencia AldanaPublished by The University Press of Kentucky
(as part of the University Press of Kentucky New Poetry & Prose Series)
In Black Mestiza, Pushcart Prize winning poet Yael Valencia Aldana reckons with her identity as a Caribbean Afro-Latinx/e woman with Indigenous, Black, and white roots and pays homage to the legacy, resilience, and fortitude of her ancestors. These stunning poems paint a vivid picture of everyday life and Aldana’s experiences as a mixed-race woman, daughter, and mother.
Lauch Event for Black Mestiza
An Anthology of Florida Poets is available
Chameleon Chimera: an Anthology of Florida Poets
DellaRocca, Lenny and Aldana, Yael Valencia and Whatley, Madison
Black Mestiza is available for presale
Exciting news! My poetry collection, Black Mestiza, is available for presale here! You can get yours at my independent bookstore, Books and Books, Barnes and Noble, or your independent bookstore.
My Poem Won A Pushcart Prize
My Poem Won A Pushcart Prize, Black Person Head Bob won a Pushcart Prize. It was published by Torch Literary Arts. You can read it here. I am stunned and so grateful to Torch Literary Arts. They gave my poem a chance. The lesson here is not to give up on yourself or your work. I have sent this poem out so many times with so many rejections. When I sent it to Torch, I thought this was the last place I would send it, and here we are. Read more.
My Poetry Collection is a Winner, Baby!
So this happened!! My poetry manuscript, Black Mestiza, won The University Press of Kentucky New Poetry and Prose Prize in poetry. She will be published in January 2025.
Purple Ink Press
We did a thing, and Purple Ink Press was born. We have started with two banging calls for submissions for The Bimbo Feminist Anthology and to Celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th Anniversary. Click over and check us out!
Yael Valencia Aldana 