Professor of Spanish celebrated for poetry

By Chris Putnam

Dr. Julio Torres-Recinos (PhD) says it was an honour to be recognized this summer by an international cultural organization in Romania.

In July, the professor of Spanish in the College of Arts and Science’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies was elected a member of the Orient-Occident International Academy “for his contribution to literature, arts and sciences.”

The author of more than 10 books of poetry, Torres-Recinos has published and recited his work in countries around the world. But he didn’t realize his poetry was known in Romania until 2017, when he received his first invitation to the International Festival Curtea de Argeş Poetry Nights held in Curtea de Argeş, Romania.

“I didn’t have any idea. And then suddenly I got an email with my name on it,” said Torres-Recinos, who was born in El Salvador and publishes most of his work in Spanish.

Curtea de Argeş Poetry Nights attracts more than 100 high-profile poets from more than 30 countries each year. Torres-Recinos’ work was well received at the 2017 festival, where he was a finalist for one of the event’s top prizes.

As he prepared to attend for a second time in 2019, Torres-Recinos learned he was to be one of two people this year elected a member of the Orient-Occident International Academy, the cultural organization that organizes the festival.

On July 15, near the end of the festival, the University of Saskatchewan faculty member was elected into the academy at a ceremony in Curtea de Argeş.

“That day I felt very special,” Torres-Recinos said.

At the ceremony, the academy’s publishing house also launched Nebunul, Tristul, a new anthology of Torres-Recinos’ Spanish poetry with Romanian translations. It is the first time his poetry—previously translated into French, English and Italian—has been published in Romanian.

In addition to poetry, Torres-Recinos has written a book of short stories and co-edited numerous anthologies. He has extensively published articles in academic journals on his research areas of Central American literature and Hispanic-Canadian writing.

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