Naomi Helena Quiñonez

Naomi Helena Quiñonez, Chicana poet and educator, is an American studies scholar and a Latina cultural advocate. Author of three collections of poetry and editor of award winning publications, Quiñonez lectures throughout the U.S. in the areas of ethnic, gender and cultural Studies and is a featured speaker and poet for readings and festivals throughout the country and Latin America.

Naomi was born and raised in East Los Angeles, a place from which she draws much inspiration for her work. Her parents were originally from El Paso, Texas; her grandparents migrated from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

***I’ll be talking to Naomi about her influences and what led her to be a poet.

She received her PhD from Claremont Graduate University in History and she also holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Among her achievements are the American Book Award, the Rockefeller Fellowship and the California Arts Council Award. She is featured in Notable Hispanic Women and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Her poems and essays have appeared in noteworthy collections such as the Colorado Review, the Library of Poetry Anthology and the Encyclopedia of Latinas in the U.S.

Quiñonez is a recognized American poet whose two collections, Hummingbird Dream/Sueño de Colibri and The Smoking Mirror have received critical acclaim. Her forthcoming collection of poetry is entitled Exiled Moon.

She co-edited a groundbreaking literary anthology Invocation L.A: Urban Multicultural Poetry which won the American Book Award and she also co edited a highly regarded critical anthology Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Studies in t 21st Century.

Quiñonez has also edited journals and magazines such as Caminos Magazine and Chiseme Arte Revista. Her next critical book Hijas de la Malinche is a history of Mexican origin women in the United States and the development of Chicana literature. Quiñonez’ creative and critical works are referenced in numerous articles, essays, journals and thesis throughout the world.

***As a writer, what serves as Naomi’s inspiration and what can we learn from her?

Quiñonez, who has distinguished herself among a cadre of Chicano Poets informed by the social change movements of the 1970s such as Lorna Dee Cervantes and Gary Soto, is also part of a larger genre of U.S. ethnic writers and she has appeared in programs with Quincy Troupe, Leslie Marmon Silko, David Mura and Octavia Butler to name a few. Her work has also appeared in multicultural anthologies such as From Totems to Hip Hop, edited by Ishmael Reed.

An invited writer and speaker in the U.S, Latin America and Europe she has been featured in many cultural, civic and scholarly programs including the Latin American Women’s Conference in Madrid Spain and the Latino Cultural Symposium in Nicaragua. Quiñonez has also presented at the Huntington Library’s Women Writers Series, the Miami Book Festival, the San Antonio Book Festival, the La Jolla Artists on the Cutting Edge Writers Series, the Nuyorican Café in New York, the Los Angeles Music Center’s Mark Taper Forum, the Northern Arizona Book Festival and the Los Angeles Museum of Culture and Art (LACMA) to name a few.

***Who comes to these conferences and festivals and how and when does she decide to share her poetry in a live setting?

Quiñonez holds an impressive record of published creative work and is included in numerous anthologies and journals some of which include Under the Fifth Sun, Aztlan and Vietnam, Chicana Creativity and Criticism, Renaming Ecstasy, In Her Own Words, Aztlan and Vietnam, Paper Dance, After Aztlan and The Southern California Anthology.

Profoundly influenced by the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s which generated the Chicano, Women’s and Ethnic studies movements, Quiñonez has devoted herself to social justice issues affecting Latina/os and native people. She founded and coordinated the Ethnic Pride Program and the Student Community Learning Center at San Jose State University which trained volunteers to develop and make multicultural presentations in public schools.

Quiñonez also worked as a community organizer in Watsonville, California where she helped to found a social advocacy program for migrant families. As a result of her work she was appointed to the Mexican American Advisory Commission for the State of Department of Education and served as a member of the Migrant Education Council. As an administrative assistant to a Watsonville county supervisor, she helped to organize numerous public forums to address race, class and gender discrimination.

As the managing editor of Caminos Magazine, a Spanish language publication, she wrote many articles about cultural and social justice issues.

After receiving her Masters degree, she took a position as director of the California Literacy Campaign in Los Angeles where she established a community advisory board and convened the city’s first Latino literacy conference. Guided by a strong conviction that culture and art create awareness and appreciation of our multiethnic, multicultural society, Quiñonez participated in and coordinated numerous art and literary readings in collaborations with other artists.

She co-founded the United Latinos in the Arts Organization which produced the Los Angeles Poets and Playwrights Festival and she received a Los Angeles Arts Council Award to produce Mestizo Voices a multicultural literary performance intended to heal the community after the Rodney King unrest. She also served as director of the West Virginia Cultures Institute in Charleston where she convened the first Multicultural Issues Conference in the city and collaborated with teachers and the community to develop multicultural curriculum.

***From her varied background, what has she taken with her, how has she maintained her artistic spirit, and how does her activism intertwine with her artistry?

Currently Quiñonez is a lecturer at the San Francisco State University College of Ethnic Studies where she teaches courses in Latino history and Latina feminist studies. She is a guest writer for the Tecolote newspaper and recently produced and organized a major literary event that featured, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Cherrie Moraga, Sharon Dubagio, Francisco Alarcon and Alfred Arteaga.

Quiñonez is committed to the improvement of social conditions for Latina women and directs much of her research and activity towards that goal. She lives in San Francisco with her husband John Saenz, who is also a writer and educator.