Bessy Reyna

Reyna is an award-winning Latina poet. Her latest book, The Battlefield of Your Body, a bilingual poetry collection, was released in June, 2005 by the Hill- Stead Museum. Her first poetry collection in English is She Remembers, published in 1997 by Andrew Mountain Press. Ms. Reyna’s Spanish language writing, published in Latin America, includes a poetry chapbook, Terrarium, and a collection of short stories, Ab Ovo. Reyna's poems and stories are found in U.S. and Latin American literary magazines including the award-winning "Connecticut Review" and online in the Global Media Journal.She has also been published in numerous anthologies including El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry, In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States, The Arc of Love: Lesbian Poems, and The Wild Good. Ms. Reyna's awards include First Prize in the Joseph E. Brodine Poetry Competition and artist award grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Greater Hartford Arts Council. In 2001 she was named Latina Citizen of the Year by the State of Connecticut Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission. In 2006 she received the Pioneer Award at the Inaugural Diversity Awards presented by the Vice Provost for Multicultural and International Affairs at the University of Connecticut and a Living Legend Award from Saint Joseph College Department of Social Work. In 2007 she received the One Woman Makes A Difference Award from the Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund. She is a monthly opinion columnist for The Hartford Courant and contributed to "Northeast," the Sunday Magazine of The Hartford Courant. She also writes an arts and culture page for the Hispanic newspaper Identidad Latina. For three summers she conducted radio interviews with the poets appearing at the nationally renowned Sunken Garden Poetry Festival in Farmington, CT. A frequent lecturer and guest artist at colleges, libraries and museums, Reyna is also a Master Teaching artist for the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and an artist in the Partners' Program in Education conducting writing workshops in Hartford-area Schools sponsored by the Bushnell Auditorium. She has judged the national poetry competition sponsored by the Astraea Foundation and the poetry section of the annual Connecticut Book Award. Ms. Reyna has performed in solo and group poetry readings and has presented writing workshops in high schools, colleges, libraries, arts organizations and at conferences throughout New England. Born in Cuba and raised in Panama, Reyna is a graduate of Mt Holyoke College and earned her Master's and Law degrees from the University of Connecticut.