Mango Editor Yaddyra Peralta Joins NPR South Florida to speak on using poetry to preserve culture and finding her voice

Yaddyra Peralta’s poetry takes us places.

From the island of Roatán in her native Honduras, where she writes everything is the color of sea salt. To Carol City, where she first wrote poetry as a child. And to Shenandoah, where she finds stray cats everywhere looking for light.

She knows the power of poetry to take us to new places. And to stand up for the places that are important to us.

That’s why she’s the current winner of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award by O, Miami and The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center. The honor is given to poets who are natural preservationists and advocates for South Florida’s ecosystems.

By writing about her home, Yaddyra is protecting it.

Yaddyra tried to leave Miami for college, but she couldn’t quit it. She learned in New York City that the stories she wanted to tell were in South Florida. She got her Master of Fine Arts at Florida International University. She also helped budding writers find their voices, working with elementary school students and adults taking creative writing classes at night.

She wants to show others where poetry can take them. On the Aug. 21 episode of Sundial, she joined us to talk about finding her voice in Miami.

On Sundial's previous episode Evan Snow, an arts leader and creative entrepreneur in Broward County, joined us to talk about how his work celebrates the arts community and the challenges of earning a living as an artist in South Florida.