FALL 2024

WRITING, PUBLISHING & EVALUATING LITERATURE IN PUERTO RICO

This academic semester the CITL welcomed Dr. Luz Nereida Lebrón, respected and prolific essayist as well as expert in Puerto Rican and Latin American literature. Her analytical works, such as her Subalternos y resistencias en la literatura latinoamericana, explore the rich cultural narratives that shape our understanding of Puerto Rican and Latin American societies, making her an exceptional voice in the literary world. 

We encourage you to hear her perspective on how literature informs and reflects the social and cultural realities of today.

SPRING 2025

In the month of April, we had the opportunity to invite two distinguished guests to share their unique insights about the world of words. 

POETRY & SIGLEMA 575

We were honored to have author and translator Prof. Patricia Schaefer Röder enlighten us about the siglema 575, a poetic form she created. 

In essence, the title is the key to the form because it not only dictates the poem’s theme, it also indicates how many stanzas the poem will have and how each stanza begins. Let us explain: if a poem has a title consisting of three letters like “Sun,” for example, the poem will have three stanzas, with each one beginning with the corresponding letter of the title: S-U-N. The stanzas are also composed of three lines where the first and last lines have five syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. Finally, every stanza should express a complete thought while also collectively presenting something about the theme identified by the title. 

Despite appearances, it's a relatively simple form to learn, and the students picked it up quickly. To close the event, Prof. Schaefer Röder sat with our students to provide some final thoughts about siglemas. She also shared a few lessons learned as an editor and translator. 

Our students thoroughly enjoyed the event, ultimately falling in love with this creative and authentic means of expression. 

Hear a snippet of what she shared with our students.

With events like "Voices of the Island", the CITL strives to become a beacon of literary and cultural enrichment that constantly resonates within the TASIS Dorado community and beyond.