University of Redlands Professor Releases New Book

This month’s featured faculty author at the University’s bookstore is Professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature, Ivonne Gordon Vailakis. She recently released a second edition of her poetry book Meditar de Sirenas. Originally from Ecuador, Gordon Vailakis is a widely recognized Latin American poet, literary translator and author of five books. Gordon Vailakis is one of the few academic professionals in the United States that specialize in the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, the only Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The lyrical text of Meditar de Sirenas invites you to dive into the deep, melancholic, sweet and bitter waters of poetry as you let yourself go in her verses that are an embodiment of eternal youth. Meditar de Sirenas was published in Sweden and now its second edition is being printed in Latin American countries such as Chile. Gordon Vailakis has been invited to Chile to present her book in April 2014. The book presentation will be at La Chascona, the former house of Pablo Neruda, where only poets of such caliber present their work. Gordon Vailakis will have a book signing for her book Meditar de Sirenas on March 22, 2014 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the children’s bookstore the Frugal Frigate, located at 9 N 6th Street in Redlands. Other works from Gordon Vailakis include Barro Blasfemos (Spain, 2010), Manzanilla del Insomnio (Ecuador, 2002), Colibries en El Exilio (Ecuador, 1997) and Nuestrario (México, 1987) GordonVailakis received her Ph.D. in Latin American Literature and Literary Theory from the University of California, Irvine and a master’s degree in Spanish from San Diego State University.