Poetry. Bilingual Spanish-English text. Winner of the 2009 International Latino Book Award for Best Bilingual Poetry Book. "Argentinean poet Elena, and Melina, writing from Alaska, represent the antipodes of a mother-daughter relationship. Yet their poems resonate with the intimate interplay and harmonic counterpoint of a Bach two-part Invention.... Born from a loving collaboration, PLACE OF ORIGIN is a lovely, singular book"--Julia Older. "A tender and savage book, mother and daughter speaking to one another, to history, and to us through the flexible lineage of language, mother tongue and daughter tongue, translating image and time in a beautiful collection"--Derick Burleson.

Author Hometown: FAIRBANKS, AK USA



About the author: Elena Lafert was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and now lives in Uruguay. She is a poet, editor, and translator. She is the author of La hora violeta (2003) and won first poetry prize from Casa de la Cultura of Rosario. Her daughter Melina Draper's chapbook, What Better Place Than This?, was published by Pudding House in 2003. Draper grew up in New Mexico, bilingual and bicultural. She is currently in the MFA program at the Univeristy of Alaska, Fairbanks.