Citizen Illegal - (Breakbeat Poets) by José Olivarez

About the Book

Citizen Illegal is a revealing portrait of life as a first generation immigrant, a celebration of Chicano joy, a shout against erasure, and a vibrant re-imagining of Mexican American life.

Book Synopsis

Citizen Illegal is a revealing portrait of life as a first generation immigrant, a celebration of Chicano joy, a shout against erasure, and a vibrant re-imagining of Mexican American life.

Review Quotes

"Olivarez steps into the 'inbetween' standing between Mexico and America in these compelling, emotional poems. Written with humor and sincerity, each page looks at immigration, race, gender and class, and how it's all playing out amid the polarizing relationship between America, Mexico and those who inhabit both."
--Newsweek, "Best Books of 2019"

"This striking collection of poems is a testament to art's power to shine a light on the beauty and nuance of family life and the plight of oppressed populations."
--NPR, "Best Books of 2019"

"The son of Mexican immigrants, Olivarez celebrates his Mexican-American identity and examines how those two sides conflict in a striking collection of poems."
--USA Today

"A devastating debut."
--Publishers Weekly

"José Olivarez's indispensable debut poetry collection, Citizen Illegal, is a boisterous, empathetic, funny-yet-serious (but not self-serious) celebratory ode to Chicanx life in the contemporary United States."
--Chicago Tribune

"José Olivarez's work shines a spotlight on the often-overlooked stories of Mexican-Americans in the Midwest. This identity is illustrated throughout Citizen Illegal in all of its complexities--the connections between Mexican-Americans and labor and the all too familiar feeling of being ni de aqui, ni de alla (not from here, nor there)."
--Remezcla

"A high-octane take on the rhythms and contradictions of life as a first-generation child of Mexican parents."
--Booklist

"Incredible... Olivarez gives us the poem as incantation, using language to transcend the limits of social constructions and the physical, temporal world."
--The Rumpus

"A book of poems by Mexican American poet José Olivarez, ties together memory, experience, and humanity. This collection makes the reader sit with the idea of nationhood, assimilation, and how white people are granted immediate access to privileges denied to people of color, regardless of citizenship or immigration status."
--Yes! Magazine

"Citizen Illegal is not only a commentary on timely and complicated issues of race, immigration, and ethnicity, but also a celebration, a journey toward a self and a family identity that is grounded not merely in geography but in the veined map of the heart."
--Rhino Poetry

"Poets like José Olivarez, a son of Mexican immigrants, are vital to keeping this nation from tearing apart--if only we could get Citizen Illegal, his debut collection, into the hands of the anti-immigrant crowd."
--Foreword Reviews

"A poet never arrives ahead or behind schedule, but rather at just the right moment. Through his masterful demonstration of control over the pen, Olivarez has established himself as not only a voice to be reckoned with and mindful of, but also one that deserves to be respected."
--Cultural Weekly

"In this collection of poems, Olivarez traces the lines between the country of his parents' birth and the Mexican-American communities that have formed an integral part of Chicago's identity. With equal measures of playfulness and razor-sharp critique, he writes of 'gentefication, ' an imagined process in w

About the Author

José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. He is a co-host of the podcast, The Poetry Gods. A winner of fellowships from Poets House, The Bronx Council On The Arts, The Poetry Foundation, and The Conversation Literary Festival, his work has been published in The BreakBeat Poets and elsewhere. He is the Marketing Manager at Young Chicago Authors.