Books, Readings, and Writings
Breathtaking in every form, The Opposite of Breathing is Cement is an ode to healing by exposing long-held wounds to the light in hopes that something fruitful is created. Icess Fernandez Rojas' debut collection dribbles between political arches, cultural identity, love, and mental illness where in dark corners of the mind exists a brave flicker from a candle. That light is more than hope, it's the start of something new. "We yell our whispers and /save subtlety for our art" in "Forgetting Cuba;" in "My Mothers," Rojas asks to "Recall baptism in clear waters, salted by Earth and divine prayers / slapped awake by rolling waves." She plays with form in duplexes and letters, which provides a brevity to the otherwise intense pacing of this collection. Yearn for a change that "comes in pixels and presence / in proclamations and the pounding of feet on cement." Through these poems, bruises, lacerations, and grief are laid bare in unapologetic language. However, from these words also comes joy from the most surprising places, happiness among the ruins of despair, and images of something better always promised around the next corner.
The Opposite of Breathing is Cement is available now from the following retailers
Hear me read from the collection here
Hear me read Shine, Shimmer, Freedom at the Sin Muros Festival at the link below
Shine, Shimmer, Freedom by Icess Fernandez Rojas
Hear me read “Ode to Anxiety” from The Opposite of Breathing is Cement.
Where to find some more of my work
Fiction and Poetry
Forgetting Cuba, Queen Mobs Teh Book
Everything in its Place, The Fem Lit
My Mothers, The Feminine Collective
I Promise, The Feminine Collective (Also in Love Notes from Humanity, The Lust, Love and Lost Collection.”
How the Dead Want to be Remembered, The Feminine Collective
Beginnings, Minerva Rising
Of Love, Death, and Marriage: The Fabled Reputation of Don Armando Mejia, Soul’s Road: A Fiction Collection
Interviews and Guest Posting:
Interview Icess Fernandez Rojas, Rabble Lit
How to be a Star Giant, Nuestra Palabra
An Advisor Explains: Why Students of Color Must Work Harder
Freely Wandering Cuba Gets Harder to do Under Trump
Readings, Awards, Panels, and Commissioned Work
The Colony, various workshops and panels
AWP, What’s Craft Got to Do With It, 2019
WriteFest 2019 panels: Publishing Online: Viral Stories and Why Print’s Not Queen Anymore; Our own voices: Making Marginalized Narratives Valuable in Honest Responsible Ways; Getting the Word Out Through the Social Media Megaphone
Around the Block: A Night of Literary Voices
Presentation: Afro-Latino Identity, Houston Community College, September 2017
Nuestra Palabra, 18th Anniversary
The Owl of Minerva Award – AfroLatina Retreat in Galveston
Love, Culture, and Identity, an Afro-Latina Reading.
Fellowships and Workshops (Taken)
Winter Tangerine, 2019, Sing That Like Dovesong
Kimbilio Fellow Summer 2017 and Summer 2018
Dos Brujas Workshop Summer 2017
VONA/ Voices of Our Nation Foundation, Summer 2015
Non-Fiction and Journalistic Work:
Letter to the Child Never Coming, Queen Mobs
Confession of a Surviving Liar, Dear Hope