New Books Network Aurora Levins Morales, "Silt: Prose Poems" (Palabrera Press, 2019)
Sep 19, 2025
Aurora Levins Morales, a Puerto Rican-Jewish writer and artist, delves into her unique identity shaped by her family's legacy of art and activism. She shares how the history of silt inspired her residency in New Orleans, leading to her book, which connects the Mississippi River's currents with Caribbean waters. Aurora emphasizes the importance of merging art and science for ecological insights and discusses her Ferment project on environmental issues. This conversation is a passionate blend of poetry, history, and social awareness.
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Formative Home Of Books And Science
- Aurora Levins Morales describes growing up with a poet mother and biologist father who filled their house with books and curiosity.
- She learned cadence from her mother’s readings and ecological inquiry from her father’s fieldwork.
River As Eco-Imperialist Metaphor
- Silt began from a quote about eco-imperialism and a residency by the Mississippi River that linked water, history, and culture.
- The river became a metaphor for how flows of water carry sediments of human histories and connect the Mississippi to the Caribbean.
Residency Journey Down The Mississippi
- Aurora recounts applying for a New Orleans residency to write about the Mississippi and later returning in 2018 to travel its length over eight or nine days.
- That brief journey produced the core material that erupted into the book Silt.
