During the months of April and May, Prof. Leah Middlebrook is leading the online poetry festival, “Cancionero de abril y mayo.”

The festival is produced by the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry. Each day, the Society releases a short video in which a contributor reads a poem from the 16^th or 17^th century Hispanic tradition. Readers also offer a few words about why they chose the poem they did.  The posts go out over Twitter (@CaliopeSrbhp) and are posted on Facebook and Instagram. Subsequently, they are archived in Humanities Commons: https://hcommons.org/groups/society-for-renaissance-and-baroque-spanish-poetry/. Come take a look!

The event was initially planned as an act of solidarity with Spain. Covid-19 has hit Spain especially hard. Initially, Middlebrook, along with co-creators Sonia Velázquez (Indiana U, Bloomington) and Felipe Valencia (Utah State U) conceived of the project as a gift from scholars, critics and readers of poetry in the United States to their colleagues in Spain. (April is national poetry month in the USA). The Cancionero become so popular, both with contributors and with followers, that the Society decided to extend its run through May 31. Videos have been sent in from around the U.S. and Spain, as well as from Mexico, Perú, Canada, Scotland, the U.K. and Romania.

Poems range from the canonical classics to rare finds. Speakers have pointed out revolutionary messages hidden on the back of a folio, salacious double-entendres and poems chosen, “just because I like it.” Videos have often included messages of support along with a few concise remarks of framing for the poems read.

On Thursday, April 30, the Cancionero hosted a live Zoom event, “Cántico primaveral,” in which forty readers from around the world read aloud the “Cántico espiritual” by san Juan de la Cruz.

The “Cancionero de abril y mayo” was co-created by Middlebrook and Velázquez. Felipe Valencia serves as Managing Editor and Technical Director. Victor Sierra Matute serves as Community Manager.

You can find more information about the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry, for which Middlebrook currently serves as President, here: https://srbhp.org/