'The Book of Wounded Sparrows' by former San Antonio poet laureate Octavio Quintanilla was longlisted for a National Book Award.
Poet Octavio Quintanilla has published two volumes of poetry, but he has a message: Language is not enough.
Quintanilla’s second volume of poetry was among only five poetry books selected from among 300 submissions from around the U.S.The former San Antonio poet laureate and professor of English at Our Lady of the Lake University said that, though it was not among the five poetry books ultimately selected to win the prestigious award, “all my poetry friends tell me that just being longlisted is a win in itself.
In a phone interview from Lockhart where he stopped for a barbecue lunch on his way home from Dallas, Quintanilla explained that the book was 10 years in the making, but has essentially been in development since the 51-year-old poet was nine years old. In “Fig of Unfolding,” Quintanilla writes of a memory of his father planting a fig tree in their Magueyes backyard.
Asked what receiving the rare honor of National Book Awards recognition has meant for him, Quintanilla answered in a surprising way, drawing from a long-ago memory of a neighbor recognizing the sadness in him and in his brother as they sat on the unfamiliar porch in Weslaco.
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