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Araceli Esparza is a published, award-winning Chicana Poeta. She is an MFA graduate from Hamline University. Araceli was born and raised in Madison, WI; her parents were migrant farmworkers from Guanajuato, Mexico, from whom she still gathers her strength.
As a teaching artist, Araceli has been trained at the Kennedy Center of the Arts hosted by the Overture Center. She has organized several community art-based programs with the libraries and other artists in the area. Araceli is often sought out as a local curator for Latine/Latino artists and has been featured in several artsy shows.
In her words about being a poet, "To me, being a Chicana poeta means to be able to catch fire, to bring forth something from labor and sweat, to have enough when there’s not a lot."
She was also featured in the National Anthology Hispanic Star Rising. Araceli was named 2015 Wisconsin's Most Influential Latina by the Wisconsin State Journal and Madison 365. Her poem Las Chicas y Chicos de Blossom Street was made into an animated short produced by PBS Wisconsin and won gold from the Milwaukee Press Club. Araceli teaches picture book writing and holds contemplative writing circles; she volunteers each year for the Yahara Writing Conference and teaches bilingual poetic craft to the Spanish youth winners.
Also, Neurodivergent professional with an artistic eye for social media!
