CantoMundo shared at the Latinx Studies Association (LSA) Conference hosted at Arizona State University. On April 20th, Carmen Tafolla and Alberto Ríos engaged in a roundtable discussion moderated by Jacqueline Balderrama entitled "CantoMundo and the Placemaking of a Latinx Poets & Poetry Organization." The conversation focused on the organization's recent collaboration with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing housed at ASU. Jacqueline Balderrama, director of CantoMundo, engaged Piper Center’s director Alberto Ríos and CantoMundo co-founder Carmen Tafolla who shared on the history and significance of their work at the intersection of Latinx poets across regional, aesthetic, ethnic, racial, linguistic, and gendered spectrums as well as the ways CantoMundo has reshaped the literary landscape and creating lasting impacts on a local and national level. Moreover, discussants reflected on the state of Latinx poetics in Arizona and the Southwest and how CantoMundo’s presence as a Latinx placemaking entity is an important turning point for the region’s poetry landscape.
NEWS
August 17, 2026
CantoMundo welcomes Arizona native Chris Hoshnic as its 2026-2027 Poetry Coalition Fellow. Hoshnic was selected from a competitive pool of applicants and will work with CantoMundo to plan and execute events, while learning the ins and outs of managing a literary organization.
A project of the Academy of American Poets and the Mellon Foundation, the Poetry Coalition is a coterie of literary organizations across the nation that support and foster poetry. As a member of the Coalition, CantoMundo was invited to apply for a Fellow, each of whom will serve for nine months. Hoshnic begins his work with CantoMundo Sept. 2, 2026.
A Diné poet, playwright, and filmmaker from Sweetwater, Arizona, Hoshnic was born to Kinłichíí’nii and born for Táchii’nii. His work explores migratory poetics, a method that examines how movement, both literal and metaphorical, reshapes Diné language, identity, and belonging. By foregrounding translation and cultural exchange, his writing reimagines language as a space for dialogue, memory, and collective transformation.
“I met Chris early in my tenure,” said CantoMundo Director Belinda Acosta. “I was instantly taken with his energy, his enthusiasm, his imagination, and his ‘why not?’ attitude. I’m thrilled he applied for and accepted this fellowship, and look forward to learning from him as much as having his assistance.”