Dinapiera Di Donato - These poems were written during days spent clearing river debris while living along the Hudson River in Manhattan. They speak of the wanderings of a nomadic subject who erases and rewrites in an imaginary landscape

Dinapiera Di Donato, Colaterales/Collateral, Trans. by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, Akashic Books, 2013.

These poems were written during days spent clearing river debris while living along the Hudson River in Manhattan. They speak of the wanderings of a nomadic subject who erases and rewrites in an imaginary landscape.
The Paz Prize for Poetry is presented by the National Poetry Series and The Center @ Miami Dade College. This annual award—named in the spirit of the late Nobel Prize–winning poet, Octavio Paz—honors a previously unpublished book of poetry written originally in Spanish by an American resident. An open competition is held each May, when an esteemed Spanish-speaking poet selects a winning manuscript. The book will be published in a bilingual edition by Akashic Books. The winning poet will also receive a $500 cash prize.


The translator (from Spanish to English) of Colaterales/Collateral, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, was born and raised in Puerto Rico. His poems and translations have appeared in Boston Review, DIAGRAM, Guernica, and Sidebrow. A 2011 poetry fellow from the New York Foundation for the Arts, he is the managing director at the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center.


"Dinapiera Di Donato's poetry exhibits a tremendous control of language. . . . She is both ancient and contemporary . . . a vital poet who honors the memory of Octavio Paz."—Victor Hernández Cruz

Dinapiera Di Donato: Dinapiera Di Donato is a poet and fiction writer, born in Venezuela. She was a professor of literature and creative writing in her country of origin. She has a doctorate in Spanish, a master’s degree in Latin American literature, and a BA from the University of Paris, France. She has published several books, including La Sorda (poetry, 2011), Desventuras del Ocio: Libro de Rachid (poetry, 1996), La Sonrisa de Bernardo Atxaga (experimental novel, 1995), and Noche con Nieve y Amantes (short stories, 1991). In 2011 she received a grant from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance. She has won various national literature prizes in Venezuela. Currently she lives in New York where she teaches Spanish and French.