What's In A Name?
Anacua Literary arts Journal, Vol.1 2021
Introduction
How it all Began
A few years ago, one early spring, Odilia Galván Rodríguez, and Edward Vidaurre made a list of projects they wished to realize together to continue the work of promoting literary voices. They wanted to primarily showcase Rio Grande Valley writers - where they were sitting around Edward’s big dining room table in McAllen, Texas - and promote the voices of other Indigenous, Chicanx, Latinx, and all BIPOC writers of the Southwest. One of the projects envisioned to facilitate this goal was a literary journal.
The Name
Anacua Literary Arts Journal gets its name from a tree. One of its standard terms, anacua, is derived from the Mexican Spanish word anacahuite, related to Cordia boissieri, the anacahuita. In turn, that word is an amalgam of the Nahuatl words āmatl, meaning “paper,” and quatitl, meaning “tree.” The anacua is also known as sandpaper tree and knockaway, a bastardization of the word anacua. Anacua trees are native to South Texas and Northern Mexico and were very useful to those native to or who later settled in these areas. The dense wood was excellent for making wheel spokes, axles, yokes, and tool handles. The small sweet berries are said to make a tasty jelly, and the stiff, rough leaves were used to sand wood. The people indigenous to these lands used them to smooth arrow shafts.
The anacua tree is incredibly tolerant in terms of its need for sun and soil. It prefers full sun and rich alkaline loam, but it tolerates part shade and grows in neutral to slightly acidic sandy or clay soil. It’s no wonder it does so well in South Texas! Many of the trees are multi-trunked, especially in the wild. Bees, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife love this tree. Birds feel safe and love to nest in its bushy branches.
Odilia suggested the journal’s name. She said, “The anacua tree is kind of like our people, we’ve had to be tolerant, to come up and thrive in diverse and frequently not the best conditions, and still, we grow to be strong, resilient, and to serve — along with the rest of nature. Also, we believe that inviting and working in solidarity with other writers/artists, along with our activism, is being of service.” Edward agreed, and so, Anacua Literary Arts Journal was born.
The Work of Prickly Pear Publishing and FlowerSong Press
Since the pair met in 2014, they have worked together on a myriad of projects. Like Poets Responding on Facebook, a poetry/artivist project started by the late Francisco X. Alarcón more than ten years ago. They have made appearances at elementary, high schools, and colleges, have taught workshops — most of them free of charge — have started poetry/writing circles, have done interviews, have written about writing, and have just been all around committed to writing and reading and getting others excited about doing the same. They’ve also been on the same writing panels at AWP, The Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, The Peoples Poetry Festival in Corpus Christi, Gemini Ink in San Antonio, and others. Last year at the height of the pandemic, they managed to complete and put out an anthology titled Dreaming, FlowerSong Press 2020, a tribute to the late and legendary Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Odilia was invited and took a US delegation of poets to the week-long 2017 Havana International Poetry Festival in Havana, Cuba, and Edward served as the Poet Laureate of McAllen in 2018-2019. They still have more projects on their list.
So much more has happened since that spring of 2017. FlowerSong and Juventud Press has been hard at work publishing over thirty titles, and Prickly Pear Publishing & Nopalli Press has six books planned for this year. Though they’d intended to publish the annual lit journal, which they put out a call for submissions, the editing process was tragically interrupted by a few serious setbacks. The worst one being the passing of Odilia’s son, Carlos “Hawk” Galvan, in December 2019.
Where We Are Today
Though the goal is to produce an in-print journal, those who’ve submitted work have waited long enough to see their fine work in print. The journal is showcasing their work here virtually. This first edition of Anacua Literary Arts Journal includes writers and artists from all over the US and other countries. The theme is Migration, but not only of people. Odilia is the editor-in-chief of this edition.
A huge thank you, to all the writers, artists, and photographers, who have been so gracious and patient in letting us curate, and finally, publishing your work. We hope you like this edition as much as we do!
Please enjoy, and be well!
Prickly Pear Publishing & Nopalli Press
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FlowerSong and Juventud Press
FlowerSong Press
Anacua sources: