The University of Arizona Press
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2025
Time: doors open at 6:30 p.m., readings at 7:00 p.m.
Where: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA
Celebrate an evening of poetry in Spanish with Viggo Mortensen, Margarita Pintado Burgos, and Omar Pimienta. Pintado Burgos, author of Ojo En Celo / Eye in Heat, will read from her award-winning book of poetry along with poet, actor, multidisciplinary artist, publisher, Viggo Mortensen who will present new and selected poetry. They will be joined by Omar Pimienta, Tijuana-born poet and UC Santa Barbara professor, whose work examines migration and border politics. The event is presented by Beyond Baroque and will also be streamed live on Youtube.
Please note that all readings will be in Spanish.
After the readings enjoy a reception with light refreshments and book signings.
About the book:
Ojo en celo / Eye in Heat brings into sharp relief the limits of our gaze. It shows us what it is to escape the mirror and move beyond mirages. Margarita Pintado Burgos invites us to ponder the impasse while showing us ways to see better, to break the habit of lying, and to confront images along with language.
With devastating clarity, Pintado Burgos’s poems, presented in both Spanish and English, give voice to the world within and beyond sight: the plants, the trees, the birds, the ocean waves, the fruit forgotten in the kitchen, the house’s furniture. Light takes on new dimensions to expose, manipulate, destroy, and nourish. Alejandra Quintana Arocho’s sensitive English translation renders the stark force of these poems without smoothing over the language of the original.
