In 2024, after publishing my first book, I wanted to find a community of writers. It wasn’t until November of the same year that I met twenty-seven other Hispanic authors living in North Carolina at a Hispanic Heritage Book Fair organized by El Centro Hispano and Mi Libro Hispano. In 2025, I invited them to gather on WhatsApp. This wasn’t a chat to babble. My idea was more about collaboration and creating community.
But something was missing in that formula. We have something special in common, something that is unique to our culture, and that is the Spanish Language: our love for the musicality of our words; the romantic vibrations of our R; and our beloved Ñ letter that only exists in Spanish. I wanted to listen to these authors' stories in their mother tongue, so I decided to create a Tertulia — an intellectual gathering. In this case, a literary Tertulia where authors and artists from Latin America could gather to share art either in Spanish or bilingually.
I pondered this idea for a while. I had never organized an event like this in the United States. One day, I decided to ask the owners of the Oasis if they’d host this gathering at their Botanical Lounge. The Oasis's warm welcome has made our events even greater, as this space holds the special energy of every musician, poet, and public speaker who has ever set foot on their stage.
This past September, Tertulia finally adopted a name: Tertulia Voces Hispanas, to honor the legacy that our community brings to North Carolina. People from Central and South America are well known for their kindness, hard-working skills, and contributions to the service industry. But Tertulia Voces Hispanas is a vivid example of the richness of our countries and culture. Tertulia offers everyone an opportunity to experience art.
Here are some of the voices: Bertha Martínez Velázquez, Mexican. Rosa Herrera, Costa Rican. Taty Hernández Durán. Dominican Republic. Kellyn Camacaro, Venezuela. Anechy Padron, Cuban. Leticia Carvajal. Dominican Republic. Pablo Rojas, Chile. Rebeca Cabrera, Costa Rican.
Words by authors of Tertulia
Bertha Martínez Velázquez, Mexican writer and poet. La vida me pone obstáculos, y Dios me da la escalera. (Life places obstacles in my path, and God gives me the ladder.)
Rosa Herrera, Costa Rican. Apprentice. Oh, entrañas mías, ¿hasta cuándo liberarán mi desbordante alegría? (Oh, my innermost depths, how long until you release my overflowing joy?
Taty Hernández Durán. Dominican Republic. Vagabundeo en el tiempo.
Retorno de la nada/donde habita el eco./Sigilosa de mi muerte /que no es muerte.
(I return from nothingness/where the echo dwells./Stealthy of my death/which is not death./I wander through the path of time.)
Kellyn Camacaro, Venezuela. Enjoy life.
Sanar es recordar quién eres en esencia, más allá del ruido. (To heal is to remember who you truly are beneath the noise.)
Anechy Padron, Cuban. Creativity.
Sudamérica, te invoco. Espíritu que duermes en mi cama, andas por mis campos, cuelgas en mis techos, como de mi cara el llanto. (South America, I summon you. Spirit that sleeps in my bed, wanders my fields, and hangs from my ceilings—like tears upon my face.)
Leticia Carvajal. Dominican Republic. Artist and writer. Me falta, yo lo sé./Este vacío mortal me lo hace evocar./No puedo recordar lo que no puedo encontrar. (There is something missing, I know./This deadly void reminds me one more time,/ I can't remember what I can't find."
Pablo Rojas, Chile. No busco la belleza deliberadamente; ella aparece y se va. (I don't deliberately search for beauty; it comes and goes.)
Rebeca Cabrera, Costa Rican. Reconstruction. Agarras la cafetera y al tubo la pegas,/escuchar correr el agua hasta llenarla./Correr luego a la radio para prenderla/a todo volumen y en Radio Reloj la preferida:/El Ave María, las seis ya dan; es hora/de ir a los chicos levantar:(...)
(The coffeepot filling, clanging against the pipe,/the radio turned up, Ave Maria at six, loud and bright./And after all that noise had already awakened us too,/you would climb back upstairs to wake us.)