Luisa A. Igloria

b. 1961

image description

Luisa A. Igloria grew up in Baguio City, in the northern Cordillera, Philippines. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago, her M.A. in Literature from Ateneo de Manila University (where she wrote a thesis on Foucault and the discourse of power in colonial texts pertaining to the Igorot), and her B.A. Humanities (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, Baguio. Since November 20, 2010, she has written (at least) a poem a day, and these are archived at Dave Bonta’s Via Negativa site. Luisa is the author of Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser (Utah State University Press, 2014), which was selected by Mark Doty for the 2014 May Swenson Poetry Prize; Night Willow (Phoenicia Publishing, 2014); Juan Luna’s Revolver (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009), which won the Ernest Sandeen Prize; Trill & Mordent (WordTech Editions, 2005); and eight other books. She currently directs the M.F.A. Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University.

 

Photograph by John-Henry Doucette.

The space of writing is the space of improvisation, curiosity, invention, experiment--- Here is where the mind’s veering and suggestive tilt can be brought to bear on meanings and connections other than those that are “given”; this to me seems the most fertile condition for poetry. As a woman, and as a writer of color in the diaspora, this perspective is additionally relevant when I consider the ways in which histories are typically written by those who have access to the most power. To improvise is to engage in little revolutions, is to overturn the sense of given expectations. This kind of virtuosity can be a source of great creative and political power.

The Secret Language

Luisa A. Igloria

1992 Poem. Courtesy of Luisa A. Igloria. Cartographies. Manila: Anvil.

contributor

X

Luisa A. Igloria

b. 1961
image description
  • See All Works
  • facebook
  • visit website

Luisa A. Igloria grew up in Baguio City, in the northern Cordillera, Philippines. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago, her M.A. in Literature from Ateneo de Manila University (where she wrote a thesis on Foucault and the discourse of power in colonial texts pertaining to the Igorot), and her B.A. Humanities (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, Baguio. Since November 20, 2010, she has written (at least) a poem a day, and these are archived at Dave Bonta’s Via Negativa site. Luisa is the author of Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser (Utah State University Press, 2014), which was selected by Mark Doty for the 2014 May Swenson Poetry Prize; Night Willow (Phoenicia Publishing, 2014); Juan Luna’s Revolver (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009), which won the Ernest Sandeen Prize; Trill & Mordent (WordTech Editions, 2005); and eight other books. She currently directs the M.F.A. Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University.

 

Photograph by John-Henry Doucette.

The space of writing is the space of improvisation, curiosity, invention, experiment--- Here is where the mind’s veering and suggestive tilt can be brought to bear on meanings and connections other than those that are “given”; this to me seems the most fertile condition for poetry. As a woman, and as a writer of color in the diaspora, this perspective is additionally relevant when I consider the ways in which histories are typically written by those who have access to the most power. To improvise is to engage in little revolutions, is to overturn the sense of given expectations. This kind of virtuosity can be a source of great creative and political power.

location

X
  • Born: Makati, Philippines
  • Based: Baguio City, Philippines
  • Also Based in: Norfolk, VA, USA

comments

X