Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution is a gorgeous collection of poems edited by Mark Eisner and Tina Escaja, with a foreword by Julia Alvarez. The theme of the collection, as the title aptly relates, is resistance, struggle, fight, taking back the power, protest, revolution. Including both well-known (to me) poets, and lesser known (to me) poets, Resistencia provides us with an inclusive and diverse anthology of Latin and South American voices, of yesterday, of today, and of tomorrow. 

I absolutely LOVED that this collection is bilingual!! I appreciate this so much as a multilingual individual, raising my own multilingual little family. It is so important for me to be able to read words in their original language, especially when it comes to poetry. The English translation is laid out side by side with the Spanish, French, Quechua, Portuguese originals, making this really a completely immersive read. 

This anthology is a must read: a powerful representation of all Latinx people especially those most often excluded and erased. It is poetry of history, of cultures erased, of struggle, but also poetry of hope and fight. There are so many themes resting within these poems: war, oppression, traditions, family, identity, belonging, womanhood, erasure… I’m so happy that the editors created this anthology, bringing us voices that I personally had never heard before, and making me want to read more. This book is beautiful, and one that I have personally pre-ordered as I want to hold it in my hands and read it again and again.

(From So Many Times by Léon-Gontran Damas).

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this anthology in exchange for an honest review.