en el norte / soy del sur

Poetry that considers migration and identity through formal experimentation with sonnets.

José Felipe Alvergue's en el norte/soy del sur, which translates to "in the north I am of the south," is an exploration into the limits of the American sonnet, one that seeks to establish a stable sense of place, while opening vistas at each turn. Stitching together multiple sonnets into what he calls "sonnet essays," Alvergue rides their turns--or "voltas"--that are guided by memories and photographs of his family's migratory history between El Salvador and the United States.

The resulting text is a story of human geography that considers the coordinates of a long, continuous thought about what it means to be "of a place" as a defining characteristic of identity, when one is also "in a place" that sets strict limits on the political and historical potential of im/migrants. A deeply human documentary work that delves into one family's migration across the hemisphere, en el norte/soy del sur hopes to give shape to the collective and often amorphous history of migration in the face of narratives that peddle spectacularized distillation and essentialism.


Author: José Felipe Alvergue
Publisher: Omnidawn
Published: 06/05/2026
Pages: 110
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.47lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.30d
ISBN: 9781632432124


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/01/2026

About the Author
José Felipe Alvergue is the author of four books, including his work of autotheory purplish: poetry anger publics and the poetry collections scenery and precis, the latter of which was also published by Omnidawn.