From Poet to Novelist

Institute for Latino Studies

12:00 PM ET Wed., Apr. 02, 2025

Listen in to an oral history conversation with poet Maria Melendez Kelson, interviewed by Notre Dame graduate literary researcher Paulina Hernández-Trejo, recorded 17 years after Melendez Kelson’s original Letras Latinas Oral History Project interview. Melendez Kelson’s most recent work is the contemporary mystery novel Not the Killing Kind, and this conversation uncovers her creative transition from her career as a successful poet to a mystery writer. She discusses how she discovered an unexpected audacity within herself that allowed her to find her political voice, the kinship and responsibility she feels toward vulnerable communities, and the surprising spiritual power that resides in a writer’s name.

For more information on Letras Latinas at the Institute for Latino Studies, please visit the Letras Latinas website.

At the Catholic Imagination Conference, four Latina poets gathered to share original work and reflect on how Catholicism, cultural identity, language, and migration intersect in their poetry. Hosted by Francisco Aragón of Letras Latinas, the event brought together voices that challenge conventional religious expression by infusing it with Spanglish, mysticism, trauma, and joy.

Adela Najarro opened with poems exploring maternal voice, migration, and sacred imagery. She emphasized that writing in Spanglish is not exclusionary, but reflective of the lived experience of bilingual communities — where neither English nor Spanish alone suffices.

Natalia Treviño delivered sweeping, lyrical invocations of the Virgin Mary, layering ancestral memory with intimate reflections on migration and belonging. Her poetry positioned motherhood and movement as fractal patterns — echoing nature and divine design.

Gina Franco’s introspective poems wove together grief, theology, and the elemental world. With evocative imagery drawn from personal tragedy, she grappled with the limits of language and the possibility of sacramental meaning in ordinary things.

Sara Cortez’s work blended theological insight with police procedural realism, turning crime scenes into sites of spiritual inquiry. From poems about marriage and loss in France to haunting portraits of murder victims, her final piece — an ecstatic prayer-poem — closed the event on a note of radical gratitude.

The panel concluded with mutual questions and a lively audience discussion. Topics ranged from translation and bilingualism to the tension between Catholic faith and colonial legacies. Together, the poets modeled what it means to write from and within a complicated, evolving Catholic imagination: honest, embodied, multilingual, and unafraid.

Spanglish as Theology | [00:34:00 → 00:37:50]
Adela Najarro defended bilingual poetry as an act of humility, not exclusion. “It’s not that Spanish can’t be translated—it’s that it says something English can’t.”
Poetry as Migration | [00:38:00 → 00:41:40]
Natalia Treviño described motherhood and human movement as natural patterns — fractals — that poetry mirrors in its structure and form.
Nature as Sacrament | [00:43:15 → 00:46:00]
Gina Franco spoke about how awe in nature often leads to spiritual insight. “I’m caught up in mystery—that’s sacramental.”
Sacred Realism | [00:28:00 → 00:31:10]
Sara Cortez’s poem “Candyman” confronts the horror of a buried child through the voice of the victim, insisting that justice and grace depend on human action.
The Challenge of Bilingual Poetry | [00:50:00 → 00:52:00]
Audience members questioned how non-Spanish speakers can engage bilingual work. The poets replied: translation is not just linguistic, but emotional and cultural.
Teaching the Sacred in a Secular World | [00:52:00 → 00:57:30]
All four poets addressed how they approach faith in secular classrooms. Franco noted, “They’re hungry for love—and God is love.”
Confession and Language | [01:01:00 → 01:02:50]
A Catholic priest in the audience reflected on how people often prefer to confess in their native language. The poets responded with insight into how linguistic intimacy is inseparable from emotional truth.

“Bilingual writing doesn’t exclude anyone—it expresses the truth of borderland life.”
— Adela Najarro [00:34:10 → 00:35:00]

“Fractals are patterns that repeat forever—and so is migration.”
— Natalia Treviño [00:39:15 → 00:39:30]

“I have a secret desire to believe all of creation is sacramental.”
— Gina Franco [00:45:45 → 00:46:00]

“If you save me, I’ll forget his naked lust and bare feet and blood… but I must be found.”
— Sara Cortez, Candyman [00:30:45 → 00:31:10]

“I write poems in English or Spanglish because sometimes Spanish is the only way to say it.”
— Adela Najarro [00:36:50 → 00:37:00]

“Students are hungry—for justice, for love, for meaning.”
— Natalia Treviño [00:57:30 → 00:57:50]

“The sacred can’t be imposed—it has to be modeled.”
— Sara Cortez [00:54:45 → 00:55:10]

From Poet to Novelist

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