SUSANA PRAVER-PÉREZ
ABOUT
SUSANA PRAVER-PÉREZ is a Pushcart nominated poet, editor, and winner
of the San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Prize for Poetry (2021).
​
Susana has studied Creative Writing at: Naropa Institute’s Summer Poetics program,
U.C. Berkeley’s Poetry for the People,
Berkeley City College from which she holds a Certificate in Creative Writing/Poetry,
and is an alumna of Macondo & Las Dos Brujas Writers' Workshop.
Susana’s poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, anthologies,
& multi-media projects.
​
Her first full-length book of poetry,
HURRICANES, LOVE AFFAIRS, & OTHER DISASTERS,
was published by Nomadic Press in 2021
and
won the 2022 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence.
​
Her second full-length collection RETURN AGAINST THE FLOW
was released by Black Lawrence Press in 2024
and was listed by both the NYU Latinx Project and Ms. Magazine
among their top choices for best poetry of the year.
​
Both books are currently available via Black Lawrence Press
(or directly from the author)
​
https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/hurricanes-love-affairs-other-disasters/
https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/return-against-the-flow/
​
After a long career as a Physician Assistant at La Clínica de la Raza in Oakland, CA,
Susana now devotes her time fully to writing. These days, she can be found working
on her next book of poetry in a park overlooking the San Francisco Bay,
in her hometown of New York, or while listening to the coquis singing in San Juan.
​
RETURN AGAINST THE FLOW is a memoir-in-verse that travels back and forth between Puerto Rico and
its diaspora, much like the island’s pattern of circular migration over the years. Reflecting her personal journey across geographies and languages, Susana’s poems move between English and Spanish, and capture the tempo of ambient sounds, such as drumbeats of bomba, or a
black-plumed chango chirping at dawn.
She unflinchingly explores the daily struggles
Puerto Rico faces, while exuberantly celebrating the island’s culture, its peoples, and the concept of “return”. This is a voyage via words the reader will remember long after turning the last page.
AVAILABLE
FROM:
BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS
CLICK BOX BELOW FOR MORE INFO:
SUSANA'S
DEBUT BOOK
June 26, 2021
HURRICANES, LOVE AFFAIRS, & OTHER DISASTERS by Susana Praver-Pérez is a time capsule of the five-year period from 2016 to 2021, captured in poetry filled with mesmerizing cadence and powerful imagery. Upon opening, be prepared to witness the anguish brought by Hurricane MarÃa and the damage caused by colonialism, COVID-19, racism and other injustices. But within, you will also find the gifts of romantic and familial love and the tenderness of a grandmother’s hands. This book weaves a wide range of seemingly disparate subjects into a lyrical tapestry wrapped in hope.
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