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contact name: Lorena Duarte
phone: 612-501-7871
fax: n/a
email: lorena_duarte@hotmail.com

Related Organizations:
Palabristas - www.palabristas.com

Lorena Duarte was born in El Salvador and raised in Minnesota. She holds a degree in Hispanic Studies/Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University and now lives in Minneapolis. For three years she served as Editor of La Prensa de Minnesota, a bilingual Latino newspaper, before joining the Department of Chicano Studies at the University of Minnesota as the Coordinator for the Minnesotano Media Empowerment Project.

She performs regularly with Palabristas (www.palabristas.com), Latin@ Wordslingers, a Minnesota based Latino poetry collective. She has written curriculum teaching poetry to kids and teens and has facilitated workshops in both English and Spanish. In 2005, she was named one of the top 25 young Latino leaders in Minnesota by the MN Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

She is currently co-editing a Palabrista poetry collection which will be published in 2007. She contributed to and co-edited ¿Under What Bandera? Anti-War Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas published by Calaca Press (National City, CA.) in 2004, which won the Resource Center of the Americas Book of the Year 2004. She will also be featured in the forthcoming anthology, Telling Tongues, to be published in 2007 by Calaca Press (National City, CA.) & Red Salmon Press (Austin, TX).

Duarte performs her work regularly for universities, organizations and institutions ranging from the Loft to First Avenue and has shared the stage with performers such as Jimmy Santiago Baca and Amalia Ortiz.

In 2006, she was part of Found in Translation, winners of the Minneapolis MOSAIC 2006 commission. In addition, she was the recipient of a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and was a finalist in the Loft Mentor Series in Poetry.

She was also chosen as a judge for mnartists.org’s poetry series "What Light" and to be a member of Intermedia Arts’ Moving Lives Speaker Bureau which aims to foster dialogues about human rights and immigration issues in Twin Cities schools and communities through the artwork and stories of immigrant artists.

In February 2007, she will represent Minnesota at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Vancouver.

2007 represented Minnesota at the Individual World Poetry Slam
2006 MN State Arts Board Grant
2006 member of Found in Translation, winners of the Minneapolis MOSAIC 2006 commission.
2006 finalist in the Loft Mentor Series in Poetry.
2005 Hispanic Chamber of Commerce "25 on the Rise"

Featured Performances:
22 April 2006
Celebration of Arts and Diaspora
Institute for Advanced Study
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota

7 March 2006
Poetry and Politics
Chicano Studies Department
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota

6 March 2006
Palabristas Presentation
Benilde-St. Margaret High School
St. Louis Park, Minnesota

24 February 2006
7th St. Entry/First Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota

7 November 2005
Chicano Latino Writer’s Festival
Palabristas Reading
St. Paul, Minnesota

6 November 2005
Featured performance on
“Brisas Latinas” Radio Show
KBEM 88.5 FM
Minneapolis, Minnesota

12 October 2005
Indigenous Day Celebration
7th St. Entry/ First Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota

19 September 2005
Independence Day Celebration
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis

6 September 2005
“Mixed Blood” Evening
Fine Line Music Cafe
Minneapolis, Minnesota

11 August 2005
SASE Women of Color Series
Patrick’s Cabaret
Minneapolis, Minnesota

15 and 16 July 2005
“Noche Latina”
Patrick’s Cabaret
Minneapolis, Minnesota

30 June 2005
Invited Speaker
St. Cloud State University
St. Cloud, Minnesota

10 April 2005
Resource Center of the Americas reading
Patrick’s Cabaret

25 March 2005
“Soy Unica, Soy Latina” Conference
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota

19 March 2005
Equilibrium “Classic Material”
The Loft
Minneapolis, Minnesota

15 and 16 March 2005
“The Politics of Poetry”
St. Cloud State University
St. Cloud, Minnesota

13 March 2005
Honoring Women’s Month
Produced original show:
Honoring Women’s Month:
Latina and Latin American Women’s Poetry
Peña Nueva
Minneapolis, Minnesota

18 December 2004
Anti-War Committee
Minneapolis, Minnesota

20 November 2004
5 District Integration Partnership
Chicano Visions Exhibit
Weisman Art Museum
Minneapolis, Minnesota

5 November 2004
Invited Speaker
College of St. Catherine
St. Paul, Minnesota

22 October 2004
“Divine Visionz”
Chicano Visions Exhibit
Weisman Art Museum
Minneapolis, Minnesota

14 October 2004
“Art Meant to Move” Chicana/o Visions of Resistance, Affirmation and Social Change”
Chicano Visions Exhibit
Weisman Art Museum
Minneapolis, Minnesota

17 September 2004
Palabristas Night
Hamline University
St. Paul, Minnesota


19 August 2004
Anti-war reading
Patrick’s Cabaret
Minneapolis, Minnesota

14 May 2004
Anti-war reading and presentation of “¿Under What Bandera?
Anti-war Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas”
Resource Center of the Americas
Minneapolis, Minnesota

8 May 2004
Honoring the Mothers Celebration
NICE Task Force
Minneapolis, Minnesota

21 April 2004
“¿Under What Bandera?
Anti-war Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas” presentation
Tia Chucha’s Café Cultural
Los Angeles, California

20 April 2004
Book Release Party for “¿Under What Bandera?
Anti-war Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas”
Calaca Press
San Diego, California

17 March 2004
Latino Political Theatre festival in conjunction with
Teatro del Pueblo
Intermedia Arts
Minneapolis, Minnesota

13 March 2004
Equilibrium Series
The Loft
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Contributed to and co-edited ¿Under What Bandera? Anti-War Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas published by Calaca Press (National City, CA.) in 2004, which won the Resource Center of the Americas Book of the Year 2004.

Also featured in the forthcoming anthology, Telling Tongues, to be published in 2007 by Calaca Press (National City, CA.) & Red Salmon Press (Austin, TX).

Articles:
1 May 2006
“Wordslinger”
Star Tribune

19 September 2005
The Pulse of the Twin Cities Magazine

Country of Citizenship:
United States

Birth Place:
San Salvador, El Salvador

Birth Date:
October 29, 1976

Gender:
Female

Active Place:
Metro Area

Minnesota County:
Hennepin

Spoken Word

http://www.myspace.com/lorenaduarte