Yesika Salgado is a Los Angeles based Salvadoran poet who writes about her family, her culture, her city, and her brown body. Salgado is a four time member of Da Poetry Lounge Slam Team, and a 2017 and 2018 National Poetry Slam finalist. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Latina Magazine, Univision, Vibe Magazine, Huffington Post, NPR, TEDx and many digital platforms. She is the co-founder of the Latina feminist collective Chingona Fire and an internationally recognized body positivity activist. Yesika is the author of the Amazon best-sellers Corazón, Tesoro, and the newest release Hermosa, all published by the independent publishing company, Not a Cult.
Yesika will be one of the featured authors at the Los Angeles Libros Festival, a free bilingual book festival for the whole family. Celebrating oral traditions, the festival will feature stories and music from Latin America—including México, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia—and the United States. LA Libros Fest will take place at the Los Angeles Central Library on September 28, 2019, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
How did you begin writing?
My first books were zines (chapbooks). I would print out copies at my local printers or Staples. I published my first collection of poems in 2014 and titled it The Luna Poems. In 2017 I was approached by my publisher Not A Cult and well, three books later here we are.
What does being an author mean to you?
I first turned to poetry when I was in the first grade. I needed to make sense of my very complicated world. Words made everything bearable. It isn’t much different now. I write to make sense of our complicated world. That is my purpose.
What place do books have in your life? What about libraries?
As a little girl, my favorite outings with my father and sisters was to the library. We would ride our bikes to the Cahuenga Branch Library and spend the entire afternoon there. Papi never censored what we read and I am so glad he didn’t because I discovered so many worlds. As a teen, I would hop on the bus and come to Central Library. That place was a palace for me. I dreamt of living there one day.
What inspired you to participate in the Los Angeles Libros Festival?
My culture and community are precious to me. Los Angeles Libros Festival caters to folks like me and my family. I am always thrilled to be able to share with audiences that are my home.
What advice would you give to a kid or teen who wants to be a writer?
Just write. Rules don’t matter. Read anything that excites you. When you think you’ve written enough, write some more.
Books by Yesika Salgado
Yesika Salgado at LA Libros Fest
- 1 p.m. · Book Signing With Yesika Salgado
- 3 p.m. · Noche de cuentos / A Night of Stories