The Puerto Rican Independent Arts Scene has seen a boom in all its facets and literature is no stranger to this. With online services like Createspace and independent publishers like La Impresora, authors of all fields have found platforms that allow them to publish their works. Seeing how many writers are slowly deciding to take power into their hands and take the solo route, it is only fitting that we celebrate young up-and-coming and/or independent poets who are building their path on their own.
(picture provided by the author)
Kelsins V. Santos Nuñez was born on September 1991 in Florida to a Dominican family. He is a poet whose work is influenced by hip-hop and rap as well as his relationships and family. He uses these and other experiences to create works that can serve as an adrenaline boost and self-empowerment for him and others. He was the first to serve as the Master of Ceremony for Vox Populi: Puerto Rico, has collaborated with various writers found in this anthology, and published his first book of poetry Pleasure, Plague & Pain in 2017. Santos Nuñez currently lives in Texas and is featured in the anthology Vox: 5 Años de la Voz del Pueblo.
(picture by Adaira Rojas Santana)
Camil L. Valentín Arce is a young poet from Aguadilla who has recently been one of the most outspoken artists in the independent scene of Puerto Rico’s west-coast. Her poetry touches social critique, politics, identity, love, and the female role in society. Recently her work was published in anthology Vox: 5 Años de la Voz del Pueblo. She published her first poetry book, Grito de Libertá, on January 2018, in the online magazine Caminos Covergentes of the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras. She’s also been featured in the magazine Brisas from the University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla and the Antología de la Alianza Artística Revolucionaria.
(picture found in the writer’s Facebook page)
Elisaura Vázquez Ayala is a published poet, spoken word performer, musician, and member of the fusion group Bajo La Luna and Poetas de PR who loves nature, traveling, learning, and enjoy the people she loves and admires. After studying social work, Vázquez Ayala has managed to bring the limits and injustices she finds in her surroundings into her art. While poetry has a special place in her heart, there are other art forms and mediums she pursues. She has published her first poetry book Mi Amor Negro and the children’s book El Árbol Revolucionario and has been recognized by the Asociación Puertorriqueña de la UNESCO on 2010. In addition, she has participated in the Antología Divertimiento III on 2017 and has been a member of the groups Las Musas Descalzas and Ovejas Negras.
(picture provided by the author)
The following is a short autobiography by Esperanza del Encanto: “Between promiscuity, lies, and garbage, born onto us, a baby savage. She fell in love with the same sex. Had a lot of trauma but unlike the rest, she wrote it. Read more of this writer’s bars and the rest of her story in Swallowing the Stars.”
(picture found in the writer’s Facebook page)
Omar Palermo Torres was born on February 2nd 1988 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. He obtained his BA in Hispanic Studies in the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez with a Spanish teaching certificate offered by the Programa de Preparación de Maestros. He is the creator and was editor of the online magazine El vicio del tintero and the magazine Epistêmê. He won third place in fiction at the Certamen Literario del Departamento de Estudios Hispánicos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (2013). He also won third place in poetry of the Certamen Literario Julia de Burgos del Departamento de Estudios Hispánicos UPRM (2014). He is the author of Brea (2017), Pais fantasma (2016), and Querosen (2014). His work has been published in the magazines [Id]entidad, Inopia, Prosofagia, y Parada 601.