Poet, translator and New York University English and Spanish and Portuguese Prof. Urayoán Noel shared his work and discussed ideas in a Thursday poetry reading and Q&A event with Northwestern community members as part of the English department’s Unsettling Sound series.
Noel is the author of several books in English and Spanish. He performed for about 15 attendees in University Hall.
He started by reading poems from his 2021 collection, “Transversal,” performing with voice and volume changes and reciting both the English and Spanish versions. Throughout the event, he performed poetry with instrumental music in the background.
“Now poetry is just a name for this, our faint embodied sound, for music once it’s not around, for ash in lockstep with the flame, for streets still summoning the same old shadows,” Noel said in one poem named “Juliécimas.”
Noel then transitioned into his ongoing series, “Wokitokiteki,” which he described to the audience as a “walking poetic improvisation project.” He said he creates the content while walking through neighborhoods in Puerto Rico and those in U.S. states with significant Puerto Rican populations.
In honor of his visit to the Chicagoland area, he delivered one piece inspired by Humboldt Park, Illinois, a historically Puerto Rican cultural hub, specifically referencing his observations from the walk.
As a translator, Noel has repeatedly translated works from Garifuna and Guatemalan poet Wingston González. Noel recited poems from an unpublished translation of González’s 2015 book, “Translaciones.”
When explaining his relationship with González, he said they share a relationship for things like performance and improvisation, despite their cultural differences.
Citing inspiration from “The Traffic in Meaning: Translation, Contagion, Infiltration” by Mary Louise Pratt, he talked about how translation is less about producing equivalences and more about understanding and representing the experiences of others.
Later, Noel read from his 2025 autobiographical prose work, “Cuaderno de Isabela/Isabela Notebook,” and handed out copies to attendees.
“Tell me if there’s a city like the one with the horse staring at the sea in front of windows with iron bars and flanked by piles of car tires…” Noel said in one poem, translated to be “Pueblo” or “Town.”
Noel then transitioned into a Q&A with the audience. He discussed the Wokitokiteki project and the concept of improvisation. He also compared product versus process.
Noel also talked about his philosophy on teaching poetry and writing to students. He said emphasizing the process of writing poetry is essential, as the product is “tied to racial capitalist ideas” of generating something to sell.
“We can always do things to become better writers, but I can’t tell you what you need to write,” Noel said. “What I can share with you is the process. How did my process get me from A to B?”
NU Spanish and Portuguese Prof. Emily Maguire, who went to graduate school with Noel at NYU, said she believes he is an impressive performer.
She said he is one of the most proficient bilingual people she has ever met.
“He has a tremendous facility in both Spanish and English, but he is also someone who has a tremendous gift for performing live and a real ability to capture an audience and move and entertain in surprising and creative ways,” she said.
Spanish and Portuguese Prof. Julia Oliver Rajan, who is Puerto Rican, said though she was initially unfamiliar with Noel, she enjoyed his performance.
“It resonated with me the vibrancy of his poetry,” Rajan said. “The way he described Puerto Rico, the struggles of Puerto Rico — I liked those things in his poetry.”
In the Q&A, Noel spoke about what it is like to translate works from poets who are from a different culture or who are dead, both of which he has done in his career.
He said to be a translator it was crucial to embrace these discrepancies, calling translation the “least messed-up kind of appropriation.”
“You’re not going to do away with the fundamental tension of ‘Oh, this person is dead, and I’m here telling their story,’ especially if they’re from community X, and I’m from community Y,” Noel said. “But to me, that shouldn’t dissuade us, because there’s way more work that needs to be translated than there are translators.”
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Chicago poet Imani Jackson reflects on family, nature in Black Arts Consortium event
— YWCA event unites community members, celebrates ‘The Soul of Black Poetry’
— Pulitzer-winning poet Natalie Diaz explores basketball, language, Indigenous identity
