Carrie Rodriguez' Laboratorio: The Poetry Edition

Led and curated by singer-songwriter and violinist Carrie Rodriguez, Laboratorio is an annual four-part concert series that utilizes world-class musicianship, the visual arts, and storytelling to explore and celebrate Latine culture. Each show features Carrie and the all-star Laboratorio house band in collaboration with different guest artists. The Poetry Edition On October 27th, Laboratorio teams up with Texas Book Festival and The Library Foundation for a special Poetry Edition hosted by the Austin Public Library. Carrie Rodriguez and the all-star Laboratorio band will be joined by three award-winning poets for an evening of songs, poems, and visual art inspired by Pablo Neruda’s Odas Elementales. Tomás Morín, Carrie Fountain, and Lisa Olstein will share some of their favorite Neruda odes as well as original poems infused with the odas’ spirit of attention to the beauty and mystery of everyday things. Carrie and the band will perform new ode-inspired songs, musical interpretations, and underscoring for the readings. Expect a joyful evening of collaboration and translation–between poetry and song, Spanish and English, the ordinary and the extraordinary–inspired by the odic call to wonder and celebration. I love all things not just the grandest also the infinitely small…oh yes the planet is sublime! Amo todas las cosas, no sólo las supremas, sino las infinitamente chicas… ay, alma mía, hermoso es el planeta. Carrie Fountain is the author of three poetry collections, a novel for young adults, and a children’s book about the life and legacy of poet and ecologist W.S. Merwin. A former Texas Poet Laureate, she is the literary curator at the Wittliff Collection. Tomás Q. Morín’s books include four poetry collections, a memoir, a novel, and a translation of Pablo Neruda’s The Heights of Machu Picchu. The recipient of fellowships from the NEA and Guggenheim Foundation, he is a professor of creative writing at Rice University. Lisa Olstein is the author of six poetry collections and two books of nonfiction. A member of the poetry faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, her honors include a Guggenheim fellowship, Pushcart Prize, and Writers League of Texas award. This project is supported in part by Texas Book Festival, the Thrive Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, and the Brad Moore Local Collections Endowment at the Library Foundation. The official non-profit partner of the Austin Public Library, the Library Foundation enhances the library’s impact on the community through philanthropy, programming and outreach.