Virtual Event: Melissa Lozada-Oliva and Hieu Minh Nguyen

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Join us on Friday, November 6th at 6pm PT when Melissa Lozada-Oliva discusses her book, Dreaming of You, with Hieu Minh Nguyen on Zoom!

Zoom Registration Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_ZmPRIsfRTbuE1EzmtyRhRA

Praise for Dreaming of You

“Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s kinetic, pop-operatic Dreaming of You is like some terrific amalgam of fan fiction and fantasy nonfiction; a Selena monograph made of memoir, myth and magic. Her partly satirical, partly ecstatic linguistics constitute a whole other sort of literary hybrid. And, while I strain to describe Lozada-Oliva’s virtuosity, I want to very plainly say, at the heart of it all, Dreaming of You is a collection of moving, mercurial poems. Melissa Lozada-Oliva is truly a singular new voice.“
—Terrance Hayes, National Book Award-winning author of Lighthead

“Themes of celebrity, fandom, grief, queer identity, and loneliness feature in this novel in verse about a poet who resurrects Tejano pop star Selena. This story is as absurd and magical as it sounds.”
—Casey Stepaniuk, Autostraddle

“Dazzling, playful, and likely to break your heart at least twice. I love Dreaming of You five-hundred times as much as I hate writing blurbs. Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a magician.”
—Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

”Some use the term ’confessional poetry’ to disparage the writer. However, there is a craft to revealing a secret. Ask your favorite chismoso. Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s Dreaming of You is a delight to read because Lozada-Oliva knows how to make awkwardness flinch, how to make crushes flutter, and how to make despair cry. Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the poet laureate of chisme.“
—José Olivarez, author of Citizen Illegal

About Dreaming of You

A macabre novel in verse of loss, longing, and identity crises following a poet who resurrects pop star Selena from the dead.

Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s Dreaming of You is an absurd yet heartfelt examination of celebrity worship.

A young Latinx poet grappling with loneliness and heartache decides one day to bring Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla back to life. The séance kicks off an uncanny trip narrated by a Greek chorus of gossiping spirits as she journeys through a dead celebrity prom, encounters her shadow self, and performs karaoke in hell.

In visceral poems embodying millennial angst, paragraph-long conversations overheard at her local coffeeshop, and unhinged Twitter rants, Lozada-Oliva reveals an eerie, sometimes gruesome, yet moving love story.

Playfully morbid and profoundly candid, an interrogation of Latinidad, womanhood, obsession, and disillusionment, Dreaming of You grapples with the cost of being seen for your truest self.

About Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the child of Guatemalan and Colombian immigrants. She co-hosts the podcast Say More and is a member of the band Meli and the Specs. She holds an MFA in poetry from NYU and her writing has been featured in Remezcla, PAPER, The Guardian, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4, Wirecutter, Vulture, Bustle, Glamour, The Huffington Post, Muzzle Magazine, The Poetry Project, Audible, and BBC Mundo. She is from Massachusetts and lives in New York City.

About Hieu Minh Nguyen

Hieu Minh Nguyen is the author of two collections of poetry, Not Here (Coffee House Press, 2018), and This Way to the Sugar (Write Bloody Press, 2014). His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Hobart, Boaat, Best American Poetry, The New York Times, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Originally from the Twin Cities, Hieu now lives in the Bay Area where he teaches at Stanford University and serves as the Lead Poet Mentor at Youth Speaks.

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