Welcome to the Season 3 finale of The Poet Speaks Podcast!

Check out Amanda's conversation with Caridad De La Luz! Caridad is a multifaceted performer known as LA BRUJA who is nominated for an Emmy as Script Writer of “Legacy of Puerto Rican Poetry” which aired on ABC last year and she is the newly appointed Executive Director of the NUYORICAN POETS CAFE where she began her career in 1996. Winner of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship 2019-2020 and a 2021 David Prize finalist, Caridad balances a career of activism, education and art with performances in successful Off-Broadway musicals such as I LIKE IT LIKE THAT, BETSY and DANCING IN MY COCKROACH KILLERS. She raps, acts, sings, hosts, recites, dances, does stand up comedy, writes plays/poems/songs/scripts and teaches others how to do the same. She has been one of America's leading spoken word poets for over 20 years and has received the Puerto Rican Women Legacy Award, The Edgar Allan Poe Award from The Bronx Historical Society and was honored as A Bronx Living Legend by The Bronx Music Heritage Center. She was presented with a Citation of Merit from The Bronx Borough President and named “Top 20 Puerto Rican Women Everyone Should Know”. NY Times called her a “Juggernaut" after the first off-Broadway run of her original musical BOOGIE RICAN BLVD., where she played 7 different characters. Her acting career has taken her from stage to film: appearing in numerous movies such as BAMBOOZLED, DOWN TO THE BONE, EL VACILON and GUN HILL ROAD. First known for her performance on Russell Simmons’ DEF POETRY JAM for HBO, her Hip Hop albums can be found on Spotify and iTunes under the titles: BRUJALICIOUS and FOR WITCH IT STANDS. Currently she has been cultivating her own art space in the Soundview section of The Bronx called EL GARAJE on the ancestral lands of the Siwanoy Nation once called Snakapins. Along with Pepatian.org where she has been a co-director since 2019, they have just celebrated their 5th annual Bronx Indigenous Futurisms gathering at Clason Point and have co-produced La Bruja’s new one-woman show FROM POOR TO RICO which includes original music and visuals of Puerto Rico in the 1970s.



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La Bruja's Links:
CaridadDeLaLuz.com

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