Bio


Born in the Amazon region of Colombia, Juan Carlos Galeano is a poet and a teacher. Over a decade of fieldwork on symbolic narratives of riverine and forest people in the Amazon basin resulted in his production of a comprehensive collection of storytelling Cuentos amazónicos (Folktales of the Amazon). In addition to his interest in Indigenous ecological spirituality, he is the author of several books of poetry. Galeano is also a translator of North American poetry and director of the documentaries The Trees Have a Mother (2009) and El Río (2018) focusing on rainforest and riverine guardians. He teaches Latin American poetry and courses on Cultures of the Amazon Basin at Florida State University.



    Translator Bio


    James Kimbrell and Rebecca Morgan

    James Kimbrell is a North American poet, critic, and translator. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. He teaches poetry and he is the director of the creative writing program at Florida State University. Rebecca Morgan’s translations of Latin American and North American poetry have appeared in the United States and Latin America. She works as a language education consultant and teaches Spanish in coastal Georgia.



What are the ecological / social crises within your region / country?


More than 500 years ago, Western culture made a mistake in its encounters with Amazonia, forcing for over five centuries first the beginnings of capitalism, and now globalization, resulting in much destruction and the endangering of life in the Amazon and the entire planet. I believe in the importance of sites for the exchange of critical thought from humanists and the work of artists, as well as scientific proposals for solutions in favor of the life of all species, humans and non-human inhabitants of the Amazon. Contrary to the anthropocentric mind – which is full of dualisms that establish powerful divisions within the being, and for many centuries, our gradual and systematic isolation from places and other species – I see poetry as a celebration of life as an indivisible whole.