Sofia Vaisman Maturana - cellist, poet, composer
Graduating in Music Composition from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, as a composer Sofia has premiered several works including ‘Anuari’ for Orchestra at the Netzahuacoyotl Hall (Mexico City, 2014) and ‘Un puro en el Bellas Artes’ for classical guitar (Valparaiso, Chile) in 2016. She has also composed for theatre plays such as ‘Bariona, Or, The Son of Thunder’ written by Jean-Paul Sartre, and ’Alegria’ written and directed by Roxana Gomez. Having learnt the cello formally and informally since the age of 12, she is now part of the London Improvisers Orchestra. Sofia is also a published poet: her first collection of poems in Valparaiso, "Pasillos de tiempos precoces" (Editorial Planeta de papel. In 2018 she published her second collection of poems: "No le pongamos nombre a lo nuestro" (Ediciones Puntos suspensivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina). And in 2019 she was awarded the second place at the Victorina Press Poetry Awards, (London). She writes regular chronicles for SalvoConducta (Santiago-Buenos Aires), and is editing her third collection of poems "Traducciones para el libro de las sombras" to be published with Elefante Editorial (Buenos Aires). Currently she is in the process of writing her first novel.
Fernando Montaño - dancer and choreographer
Born in the slums of Buena Aventura Colombia, Fernando Montaño is an internationally renowned dancer and choreographer and former Soloist of The Royal Ballet. Montaño studied at the Colombian and Cuban National Ballet schools and graduated into Cuban National Ballet in 2004. He also danced on scholarships with La Scala Ballet, Milan, and Teatro Nuovo di Torino. His repertory includes Colas (La Fille mal gardée), Jester (Cinderella), Gypsy Girl’s Lover (The Two Pigeons), Bluebird (The Sleeping Beauty), Caterpillar (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Benvolio and the balcony pas de deux (Romeo and Juliet), pas de six (Giselle), pas de trois (Swan Lake), pas de trois (Fool’s Paradise) and roles in The Human Seasons, Multiverse, Obsidian Tear, Scènes de ballet, Manon, La Vivandière, Raymonda Act III, Chroma, Woolf Works and Carbon Life. Twice LUKAS winner, his other awards include prizes at the International Ballet Contest, Havana, a Citation of Honor (New York) and an honour from the President of Colombia. He has modelled for Vivienne Westood and choreographed and danced Alchemy for her Banqueting House catwalk show.
Gonzalo Maza (screenwriter and director)
Gonzalo Maza is a writer and producer, known for A Fantastic Woman (2017), which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and Gloria (2013). He also won an award at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Screenwriting and was nominated for the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. His debut feature film as director, 'Ella es Cristina (2019) was released in 2020 and received critical acclaim at the BFI London Film Festival. Gonzalo started his studies in London at the London Film School as a Master in Screenwriting in 2016.
Virna Teixeira (poet and publisher)
Born in Fortaleza, Brazil, Virna started doing handmade pamphlets (Arqueria Editorial), and now runs a small press in London, Carnaval Press, specialised in Brazilian poetry in translation. Her poetry books and poetry pamphlets were published in Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and UK. She has presented her work in several poetry festivals in South America, and also in the U.S. and Europe and curated international poetry festivals in São Paulo and Lisbon. Recently, she organised in London the Untamed sessions - poetry and visual performances and edits a bilingual literary and visual arts magazine, Theodora. In the UK her poetry has been published on Painted, Spoken; The Projectionist Playground and Datableed. Portuguese publisher and artist João Concha illustrated poems for her book Neverland is Too Far Away (Carnaval Press, 2016). Her poems were selected for Triste in Spanish and English, a hybrid feminist performance in Lisbon involving dance and text written by lusophone female writers, created by coreographer, performer and poet Sónia Baptista.
Alex Etchart - singer-songwriter
Anglo-Uruguayan multi-instrumentalist composer and singer, Alex grew up in London, raised in the South American folk tradition, and who has given his angelic voice to marginalised groups and social justice campaigns the world over. Alex co-produced the award-winning, repeat-sellout show The Sex Worker's Opera which toured the UK and Holland with support from Open Society Foundations, performing at International AIDS Conference and Amsterdam LGBTIAQ+ Pride. Alex also produced wartime radio and international street theatre with members of Teatro di Nascosto living across the Middle East. Alex co-leads Sam Lee's Fire Choir at Foundling Museum alongside Blythe Pepino and Ben See. Now touring with the musical group Vientos, they bring the rich, melancholic sounds of South American folklore into wild electronica, weaving LGBTQ+ realities and diasporic memories through multilingual melodies and utterly danceable basslines. Alex will be performing as part of La LInea Fetsival on 4 May https://www.comono.co.uk/live/alex-etchart/
Leo Boix - poet
Born in Argentina, Leo is an award-winning bilingual poet, recipient of the Bart Wolffe Poetry Prize 2018 and the Keats-Shelley Prize 2019. His latest book of poems Ballad of a Happy Immigrant was published by Chatto Press and many others have been included in anthologies such as Ten: Poets of the New Generation (Bloodaxe), The Best New British and Irish Poets Anthology 2019-2021 (Eyewear Publishing) and Un Nuevo Sol: British Latinx Writers (flipped eye). He is a recent fellow of The Complete Works, a national mentoring programme aimed at poets from minority backgrounds and co-director of Invisible Presence, an Arts Council scheme to nurture new Latinx writers in the UK. He is a board member of Magma Poetry, co-editor of its Resistencia issue showcasing the best Latinx writing, and an advisory board member of the Poetry Translation Centre in London
Manu Valcarce - documentary filmmaker and photographer
Manu Valcarce has earned a reputation as a world-class documentor, working on projects ranging from the lives of Muslim transexuals living in Jakarta, Indonesia to those affected by the favela's pacification before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He also travelled to Mexico, Honduras and Kenya with Peace Brigades and, produced Hope and Solidarity:Portraits of Resilience, which consisted of inspiring stories of human rights defenders from all walks of life. He has made several films, including Fuerza London, stories of resilience and courage of London’s Latin American community during COVID. Manu graduated in MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism in LCC in January 2016. Since then his work has been screened in the Tate Modern and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London and exhibited in solo and collective shows as well as photography festivals. He has been shortlisted by Travel Photographer of the Year, AOP Open Awards, and National Geographic Photo Contest.
Isaac Cuevas - creative director
Creative Director, Head of Talent and Entertainment at Fire and Lightbox, London's leading gay and Latin club venues, Isaac is a multidisciplinary creative. He works in the space where brand, events, talent, and entertainment converge. Isaac started his creative career as Events Manager organising Reggaeton and Latino music nights in London, as well as concerts in emblematic venues like The O2 and O2 Academy Brixton. Isaac has an eye for new talent and launched different DJs, models, actors and dancers careers, and supported them through their journey to success. Currently, Isaac manages the creative side of the events at VIVA Reggaeton, creating different themes and concepts that make his events a full success. From managing the artwork design and social media strategy, to the creation of spectacular shows with dancers and special performers every week.
Atabey Mamasita - multidisciplinary artist
Carlos Maria Romero is a live visual arts performer and the third member of SPIT! (Sodomites, Perverts, Inverts Together!) with whom they wrote and continue to present a series of queer manifestos responding to contemporary pressing issues of sexual and gender oppression. He is a member of Vividero Colectivo, a Colombian group of multidisciplinary artists and architects revealing narratives in which historically marginalised social practices and architectural goods are (re-)claimed as cultural heritage. Carlos Maria Romero is also an associate artist of ice&fire, an organisation addressing positive change in the world through performance and arts practices in relation to human rights. For World AIDS Day 2018, Maria Romero presented 'A House of Ecstatic Virality' a dance and movement practice work commissioned by Auto Italia South East in collaboration with HIV activists, Health professionals and volunteers from METRO Charity's Latinx and Polish communities programme. Using methodologies for communal dance and conversation, the work creates a celebratory, sober, embodied and life affirming environment for people to explore together HIV related issues in a safe, relaxed and supportive manner.
Natalia Figueroa - poet
Natalia’s Una mujer sola siempre llama la atención en un pueblo (Chile, 2014; Spain, 2017) won the Best Poetry Book Prize in 2015 awarded by the Minister of Culture in Chile. She is a co-organizer of the Female Writers Meeting Islas nuevas, of Poemas para náufragos y viajeros, both in Chile, and of the international women's meeting Mount Sappho. In 2021 she published her second book of poems, Experimentos acerca de la repetición de los días (Experiments on the repetition of days).
Adriann Ramírez - filmmaker
Adriann grew up in El Centro, California close to the Mexican border before ultimately moving to London in 2016. They began making short films in San Francisco while working towards their degree in dance and choreography, while simultaneously working as a principal dancer with PUSH Dance Company in 2013. Their first short film, CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', premiered at the 2014 Frameline International LGBTQ Film Festival and went on to show at various film festivals around the USA and UK. In 2018 they created Lavender Language, an ongoing series of conversations where they speak with queer artists about their creative process and how they maintain careers in artistic fields. HOT TEARS THROUGH VELVET RAGE, their debut book of poetry and photography, was published by Polari Press in 2021.
About Jorge Garriz – Literary Curator
Jorge is director of the Festival of Queer Spanish Literature in London - FQSLL, which second edition was occurred in November 2022 at various venue across the city of London as well as online. For this festival he had programmed ground-breaking names of queer literature as Camila Sosa, Paco Bezerra, Katya Adaui, Luisgé Marín, Eva Baltasar, Pol Guasch or Alberto Conejero. is owner of Romancero Books, an online bookshop of Spanish and Latin-American literature based in London, through which he programs monthly live events, talks and book launches and is currently curating A Queer Poetry Reading evening with Latinxs poets living in the UK such as Leo Boix, Adriann Ramirez and Natalia Figueroa.
More info and tickets here https://www.latinolife.co.uk/event/queer-poetry-reading-iii-photo-book-…
