Members

Who We Are

Graciela

Graciela Brauer Ramírez

Born and raised in México City, Graciela Ramírez is one of the founding members of Escritores del Nuevo Sol. A professor and mentor, she taught Spanish and Ethnic Studies at Sacramento State University for 25 years. As a poet and writer she published Educación, una Epica Chicana, the history of the Chicanos at CSUS and Words of the Full M

Born and raised in México City, Graciela Ramírez is one of the founding members of Escritores del Nuevo Sol. A professor and mentor, she taught Spanish and Ethnic Studies at Sacramento State University for 25 years. As a poet and writer she published Educación, una Epica Chicana, the history of the Chicanos at CSUS and Words of the Full Moon. Her poems and memoirs have appeared in many publications. Since the early 1970’s she has organized and participated in many poetry readings in Sacramento and out of town programs. She has been a member and 11 years coordinator of the 30 year group Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun. She coordinated and edited their first anthology: Voces del Nuevo Sol, Cantos y Cuentos. She helped organized through Ethnic Studies the “Writers and Thinkers Symposiums” that brought to CSUS stars of great magnitude such as Maya Angelou.

Aline

Aline Amaya

Originally from Mexico City, Aline Amaya graduated from Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. Looking for her dream, she moved to the United States in 2002. Artistically, she found her voice through paint and brushes, and most recently, embraced the poet inside herself. She soars and dances

Originally from Mexico City, Aline Amaya graduated from Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. Looking for her dream, she moved to the United States in 2002. Artistically, she found her voice through paint and brushes, and most recently, embraced the poet inside herself. She soars and dances in abstract forms and colors, evoking the essence of a moment in time through the lens of soul with words, evoking the essence of a moment in time. She joined Escritores del Nuevo Sol inspired to preserve the legacy of her ancestors and culture, her abuela's recipes and medicine, the fire of her kitchen and love.

rosangelica

Aspiring to use creativity and media in order to be an agent of social change, rosangelica is a multidisciplinary artist who merges plastics, graphic art design, photography, video production, writing, poetry, journalism, and storytelling. She engages themes of la mujer, mujer latina, the daughter of immigrant parents, the first-born gene

Aspiring to use creativity and media in order to be an agent of social change, rosangelica is a multidisciplinary artist who merges plastics, graphic art design, photography, video production, writing, poetry, journalism, and storytelling. She engages themes of la mujer, mujer latina, the daughter of immigrant parents, the first-born generation in the States, seeking to create spaces of self-exploration . "I continue to seek stories to have a better understanding of who I am and hope that in doing so, I inspire others to share their stories."

rosangelica

JoAnnAnglin

JoAnn Anglin is an accomplished poet and educator who has been teaching poetry-writing classes at New Folsom State Prison (CSP-Sac) for many years. Her newest publication, the chapbook, HEAT, has been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. She has worked as a poetry coordinator for schools, spent several years coaching for Poetry Ou

JoAnn Anglin is an accomplished poet and educator who has been teaching poetry-writing classes at New Folsom State Prison (CSP-Sac) for many years. Her newest publication, the chapbook, HEAT, has been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. She has worked as a poetry coordinator for schools, spent several years coaching for Poetry Out Loud, and has been a very active member of Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun, Círculo De Poetas & Writers, and the Sacramento Poetry Center. Her poems have been published in Poetry Now, The Los Angeles Review, The Pagan Muse, and 100 Poems about Sacramento, as well as in other anthologies. JoAnn has been a featured poet at Luna’s café, Sacramento Poetry Center, Sacramento Poetry Alliance, The Book Collector, Barnes & Noble Books, and La Raza Galeria Posada.

JoAnn

Ires

Ires Aponte

Writing has always been a form of therapy for Ires Aponte, but writing poetry, specifically, filled a void in her like nothing else ever has. Poetry allows Aponte freedom of expression with no expectation or desire to be understood. "It’s incredibly freeing. And if there is one feeling I have learned is priceless, it’s the feeling of bein

Writing has always been a form of therapy for Ires Aponte, but writing poetry, specifically, filled a void in her like nothing else ever has. Poetry allows Aponte freedom of expression with no expectation or desire to be understood. "It’s incredibly freeing. And if there is one feeling I have learned is priceless, it’s the feeling of being free. Hopefully, my writing encourages others to seek that same feeling with their own creative expression. The world needs more of it."

Paul

Paul Aponte

Paul Aponte is a Chicano poet from Sacramento. A member of the writers groups Escritores del Nuevo Sol (Writers Of The New Sun) and Círculo De Poetas & Writers, Paul has been published in Voices 2022, Tecolote Press Anthology Poetry In Flight, Sacramento Poetry Center's quarterly Poetry Now, Un Canto De Amor A Gabriel Garcia Márquez (a

Paul Aponte is a Chicano poet from Sacramento. A member of the writers groups Escritores del Nuevo Sol (Writers Of The New Sun) and Círculo De Poetas & Writers, Paul has been published in Voices 2022, Tecolote Press Anthology Poetry In Flight, Sacramento Poetry Center's quarterly Poetry Now, Un Canto De Amor A Gabriel Garcia Márquez (a publication from the country of Chile containing poems from around the world with 31 countries represented), Anthology Soñadores - We Came To Dream, and in the Los Angeles Review Volume 20 - Fall 2016. His poems have been featured as an editor's choice in the online journal Convergence. His collection of poetry, entitled DEL CACTUS, is available here through Prickly Pear Publishing.

Fausto Avendaño

Fausto Avendaño, Ph.D, is a writer, editor, and emeritus professor of languages and literatures. As former editor of Explicación de textos literarios, he contributed to various books and literary projects. He is also the editor of Explicación de Cien años de soledad, Literatura hispana de los Estados Unidos, and Literatura de Expressão Po

Fausto Avendaño, Ph.D, is a writer, editor, and emeritus professor of languages and literatures. As former editor of Explicación de textos literarios, he contributed to various books and literary projects. He is also the editor of Explicación de Cien años de soledad, Literatura hispana de los Estados Unidos, and Literatura de Expressão Portuguesa nos Estados Unidos (in Portuguese). As an author, he has written two historical novels, Santa María (in English) and Salazar’s Gold, Avendaño is best known for his short stories and his historical play, El Corrido de California, which explores the effects of the U.S. government invasion of Alta (upper) California on a Mexican family in 1846, four years before California was admitted into the Union. Avendaño has also authored Rodrigo, The Cid Campeador and the Infantes of Carrión, an historical-lengendary novel available through Hispanic Books Press. Paola and Raymond is a satirical novel of contemporary metaphors and contemporary language peppered with double entendre. Winner of the Latino Literary Prize (UC Irvine) and Fuentes Mares Literary Prize (Mexico), Avendaño was also a Fulbright scholar, where he taught at l’Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France.

Fausto

Juan

Juan Manuel Carrillo

Juan Carrillo is a poet and artist, one of the founding members of the Royal Chicano Air Force and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures. Retired Deputy Director of the California Arts Council, Juan has worked as an educator, arts activist, and artist. As a student at UC Berkel

Juan Carrillo is a poet and artist, one of the founding members of the Royal Chicano Air Force and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures. Retired Deputy Director of the California Arts Council, Juan has worked as an educator, arts activist, and artist. As a student at UC Berkeley, he was a founding board member of El Grito, A Journal of Contemporary Mexican American Thought, publishing academic studies, essays, short stories, poetry, and art. He has served on advisory boards and committees for local state and national arts organizations such as Target Foundation, Ford Foundation, Poets & Writers, Inc., the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, Fresno Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Juan’s writing began in earnest following his retirement when he joined los Escritores del Nuevo Sol, later featured as a poet at Luna’s Café, Mosaic of Voices, and Delta College. Author of Laughing with Tears in Her Eyes ( Royal Chicano Air Force Press, 2016), a biography of his maternal grandmother, Juan is a visual artist as well, whose paintings, drawings and prints have been exhibited in solo and group shows and is in the collections of CSU Sacramento, UC Santa Barbara and the California State Library.

Marco

Marco Antonio Contreras

Marco Antonio Contreras is a writer, journalist, and US Marine, who served in the Gulf War as a Field Wireman. He developed a joy for letter writing during deployment. His first published story was in, Puente Project Student Anthology: Las Nuevas Voces '95. He later attended UCLA, publishing numerous articles in the UCLA Bruin and the bi

Marco Antonio Contreras is a writer, journalist, and US Marine, who served in the Gulf War as a Field Wireman. He developed a joy for letter writing during deployment. His first published story was in, Puente Project Student Anthology: Las Nuevas Voces '95. He later attended UCLA, publishing numerous articles in the UCLA Bruin and the bilingual student magazine, La Gente de Aztlan, a publication that awarded him Writer of the Year in 1998. In 2000 Marco moved from Los Angeles to Stockton, volunteering at the American Red Cross and interning at The Record, where he published several stories. Contreras 's experience about the Gulf War was published in, Distant Thunder: Recollections of Lodi Area Veterans.

Richard

Richard Garcia

Richard T. Garcia, an Indigenous Yaqui Chicano, is a retired California Deputy Labor Commissioner, a retired Ohio Civil Rights Investigator, former Defense Department Accounting Technician a former California GSA EEO Investigator, a former San Jose Police Department Police Officer, and Bilingual Vocational Instructor. His first book is a

Richard T. Garcia, an Indigenous Yaqui Chicano, is a retired California Deputy Labor Commissioner, a retired Ohio Civil Rights Investigator, former Defense Department Accounting Technician a former California GSA EEO Investigator, a former San Jose Police Department Police Officer, and Bilingual Vocational Instructor. His first book is a memoir entitled From San Jose to Viet Nam and Back (2024, Conocimientos Press). He has published two short stories in US Defense Department’s Employee Portal Newsletter, three short stories in the anthology Patton’s Boys, and short story in Eastside Magazine (2023), entitled “Menudo Hall”. Richard is a two tour, 1968 to 1970, Viet Nam Combat Infantry veteran, a USMC Paratrooper, and a 100% disabled veteran. He was awarded several US Medals for Gallantry, as well as the Republic of South Viet Nam award for gallantry in battle. A Latin percussionist since the age of eleven, he is the original percussionist for Flor del Pueblo. He was featured as a timbal soloist with the San Jose Symphony, and San Jose State University Latin Jazz Ensemble at the Monterey in 2000, also on timbales. He studied and performed Latin Percussion at the Capital University Music Conservatory. He has an AA from San Jose City College, BA from Capital University Columbus, Ohio, MAfrom University of San Francisco, and an MBA from Ohio Christian University.

Nancy

Nancy Aidé Gonzalez

Nancy Aidé Gonzalez is a Chicana poet, educator, and activist. Her work has appeared in Huizache: The Magazine of Latino Literature, La Tolteca, Mujeres De Maiz Zine, Seeds of Resistance Flor y Canto: Tortilla Warrior, Hinchas de Poesía, Fifth Wednesday Journal and several other literary journals. Her work is featured in the Poetry of R

Nancy Aidé Gonzalez is a Chicana poet, educator, and activist. Her work has appeared in Huizache: The Magazine of Latino Literature, La Tolteca, Mujeres De Maiz Zine, Seeds of Resistance Flor y Canto: Tortilla Warrior, Hinchas de Poesía, Fifth Wednesday Journal and several other literary journals. Her work is featured in the Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice, Sacramento Voices: Foam at the Mouth Anthology, Lowriting: Shots, Rides, and Stories from the Chicano Soul, and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century. She is a member of Escritores del Nuevo Sol and the Sacramento Poetry Alliance.

Lara Gularte

Lara Gularte, lives in northern California and is Poet Laureate Emeritus of El Dorado County 2021 to 2023. Her writing is influenced by deep image poets. Her book of poetry, Fourth World Woman, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022. Kissing the Bee, about her California Portuguese pioneer ancestors was published by The Bitter Olea

Lara Gularte, lives in northern California and is Poet Laureate Emeritus of El Dorado County 2021 to 2023. Her writing is influenced by deep image poets. Her book of poetry, Fourth World Woman, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022. Kissing the Bee, about her California Portuguese pioneer ancestors was published by The Bitter Oleander Press in 2018. She is affiliated with the Cigarros Colloquium: Azoreans Diaspora Writers, at the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI). Gularte is a teaching artist of creative writing at Mule Creek State Prison and co-facilitates the Cameron Park Library Writers Workshop. She is known for conducting Ekphrastic poetry/writing workshops at the Switchboard Gallery of Arts & Culture El Dorado, the Mills Station Arts & Culture Center, and the Riparian Area Project, “RIPE Area,” a collaborative

project of Myrtle Tree Arts and the American River Conservancy. She hosts the popular monthly reading series, Poets and Writers of the Sierra Foothills, at Chateau Davell Winery, in Camino.

Lara

Zheyla

Zheyla Henriksen

Zheyla M. Henriksen, PhD, is an Ecuadorian poet, researcher, artist, community activist, retired professor (University of California, Davis) residing in northern California. Recognized by Marquis in Who’s Who of Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in education, Zheyla is now retired. As an author, she has published

Zheyla M. Henriksen, PhD, is an Ecuadorian poet, researcher, artist, community activist, retired professor (University of California, Davis) residing in northern California. Recognized by Marquis in Who’s Who of Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in education, Zheyla is now retired. As an author, she has published multiple works of poetry, including her most recent collections, Caleidoscopio de Recuerdos: Kaleidoscope of Memories and Confesiones de un cuerpo: Estaciones de pasión / Confessions of a Body: Seasons of Passion. She has been named as a finalist in several poetry contests. Zheyla has continued to serve her local and trans-local communities as a champion of the arts, including Ballet Folklórico Del Ecuador Inti-Tulpa, Vuelo de Mujer, and the San Francisco Opera. She cites her mother as her greatest mentor and a source of inspiration, the reason she continues to mentor students in Spanish, English, poetry, and writing, using her skills as a professor to help them hone their craft.

Charlie

Charles "Charlie" Mariano

Charles Mariano was born in Merced, CA, graduated from Merced High School, and then moved to Sacramento. Currently working on his eighth book, Mariano has recently published Central Valley Beat, a hybrid of memoir, new journalism, and prose. Most of Mariano’s work includes personal stories and poetry about family, fieldwork, farming and

Charles Mariano was born in Merced, CA, graduated from Merced High School, and then moved to Sacramento. Currently working on his eighth book, Mariano has recently published Central Valley Beat, a hybrid of memoir, new journalism, and prose. Most of Mariano’s work includes personal stories and poetry about family, fieldwork, farming and growing up in the Central Valley. His books almost always contain personalized historical accounts, vintage photos, artwork and California history. “I’m always humbled by the trust and responsibility given to me by family, friends, and strangers,” Mariano says. “They’ve allowed me to document their stories–our stories. I’ve unofficially become a caretaker of many hearts.”

Janet Rodriguez

Janet Rodriguez is an author, teacher, and editor living in Northern California. She is the author of Making an American Family: A Recipe in Five Generations (Prickly Pear Press, 2022), a family memoir. Her short story, "The Key in the Tignanello Bag" was recently published in the regional anthology, Sacramento Noir, edited by John Free

Janet Rodriguez is an author, teacher, and editor living in Northern California. She is the author of Making an American Family: A Recipe in Five Generations (Prickly Pear Press, 2022), a family memoir. Her short story, "The Key in the Tignanello Bag" was recently published in the regional anthology, Sacramento Noir, edited by John Freeman. Her work has also been featured in Hobart, Pangyrus, Eclectica, The Rumpus, Cloud Women’s Quarterly, American River Review, and Calaveras Station. Her short stories, essays, and poetry usually deal with themes involving morality in faith communities and the mixed-race experience in a culturally binary world. She holds an MFA from Antioch University, Los Angeles. She is currently Interviews Editor at The Rumpus.

Janet

Lorena

Lorena Rodriguez

Lorena Rodriguez has roots in the Andes, born and raised in a land where the cultivation of potatoes and corn is a way of life. Her writing draws deeply from her experiences as a woman, her ancestral roots, and her dedication to environmental justice.

A multidisciplinary artist, Lorena uses performance and theater as a tool for activism,

Lorena Rodriguez has roots in the Andes, born and raised in a land where the cultivation of potatoes and corn is a way of life. Her writing draws deeply from her experiences as a woman, her ancestral roots, and her dedication to environmental justice.

A multidisciplinary artist, Lorena uses performance and theater as a tool for activism, community building, and healing. She is a writer, performer, fermenter, dancer, and textile artist. Through her work, she shares practical actions for health and well-being while inspiring the reimagining of systems that address collective needs and foster healing.

Since moving to Sacramento, Lorena has been an admirer of Escritores del Nuevo Sol. This group and its history have been a source of inspiration and a safe space for creative expression, enriching her journey as an artist and storyteller.

Estela

Estela Victoria-Cordero

Estela Victoria-Cordero is a writer, entrepreneur and a dental hygienist. First published in Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha’s Press 2016), an anthology edited by Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez and others. She was published in the anthology Los Angeles Poets for Just

Estela Victoria-Cordero is a writer, entrepreneur and a dental hygienist. First published in Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha’s Press 2016), an anthology edited by Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez and others. She was published in the anthology Los Angeles Poets for Justice (Los Angeles Poet Society Press, 2020), and in Drylandla’s Hombre Lobo Stories (Ponte Las Pilas Press). She has also translated children’s books into Spanish, including The Big Scary Virus (B. Me.Media, 2020). She recently published her collection, Huitzilopochtli with World Stage Press, 2023. She's an alum of the Community Literature Initiative (through the Sims Library of Poetry), is a married mother of four, was born and raised in the hillside neighborhood of El Sereno/Lincoln Heights area of East Los Angeles, and is a graduate of USC. She will be leading workshops at the Los Angeles Public Library for beginning/intermediate writers in conjunction with the release of her book, to inspire others into writing about their own histories.