Michelle Yasmine Valladares '85 Named Poet of the Year at New York Festival

Indian-American poet, filmmaker, and professor Michelle Yasmine Valladares '85 was named Poet of the Year at The Americas Poetry Festival of New York.

Valladares is the author of Nortada, The North Wind. Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Publications include Aster(ix), Upstreet and Clockhouse; the anthologies Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond, and The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry by Indians. She co-produced the films O Sertão das Memórias, directed by José Araújo, which won Best Latin American Film in the Sundance Festival; and El Diablo Nunca Duerme, directed by Lourdes Portillo, which won IDA Best Producer award. She is the director of the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at The City College of New York. She majored in political science at Bryn Mawr.