A Conversation with Carmen Giménez
Join poet and Graywolf Press Executive Director Carmen Giménez for a profound exploration of modern “folklore”—from digital fandoms to the absurdity of conspiracy theories. Giménez reflects on her transition from founding Noemi Press to leading a major nonprofit, offering rare strategic insights into our fragile literary ecosystem’s future.
Experience the Episode
Presented by Institute for Latino Studies
Join poet and Graywolf Press Executive Director Carmen Giménez for a profound exploration of modern “folklore”—from digital fandoms to the absurdity of conspiracy theories. Giménez, interviewed by poet and book critic Laura Villareal, reflects on her transition from founding Noemi Press to leading a major nonprofit, offering rare strategic insights into our fragile literary ecosystem’s future.
For more information on Letras Latinas at the Institute for Latino Studies, please visit the Letras Latinas website.
MoreMeet the Poet: Carmen Giménez
Carmen Giménez is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Milk and Filth, a finalist for the NBCC Award in Poetry and Be Recorder (Graywolf Press, 2019), which was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award in Poetry, the PEN Open Book Award, the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She was awarded the Academy of American Poets Fellowship Prize in 2020. A 2019 Guggenheim fellow, she served as the publisher of Noemi Press for twenty years. She is Publisher and Executive Director of Graywolf Press.
Meet the Moderator: Laura Villareal
Laura Villareal is a poet and book critic. Her debut poetry collection, Girl’s Guide to Leaving (University of Wisconsin Press 2022), was awarded Texas Institute of Letters’ John A. Robert Johnson Award for a First Book of Poetry and the Writers’ League of Texas Book Award for Poetry. She earned an MFA at Rutgers University—Newark and has been the recipient of fellowships and scholarships from the Stadler Center for Poetry and Literary Arts at Bucknell University, National Book Critics Circle’s Emerging Critics Program, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Dobie Paisano Fellowship Program at University of Texas-Austin, The Huntington, and CantoMundo. Her writing has further been supported by residencies at Oak Spring Garden Foundation. She’ll be continuing her research and writing through a 2026-2027 BMI-Kluge Fellowship.
She is an editor at Host Publications based in Austin, Texas. She is also an associate with Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, where she co-edits and writes for Letras Latinas Blog 2, in addition to working on other related projects. She is also a contributing editor at West Branch Magazine and an elected member of Leadership Committee for the Poetry Coalition. Alongside Diannely Antigua, she is co-editing a new anthology of Latinx poetry titled We Come from Everything: Poetry for the 21st Century forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2028.