Meet Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adrian Ernesto Cepeda. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adrian Ernesto below.

Adrian Ernesto , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Before I was accepted to my MFA program at Antioch University in Los Angeles, I read about Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours rule about The Beatles. I use this time to harness my craft and learn from creative geniuses like David Bowie, Frida Kahlo, Anais Nin, Pablo Picasso. I learned and was inspired by their level of dedication and resilience and it fueled my own. I worked on my craft of poetry and used their life and work as inspiration for my own. I hope to be a beacon for others from my culture who will hopefully be inspired by my own road as they continue on their journey as a creative artist.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a bilingual poet with a speech impediment. For many years I was embarrassed about my stutter and it kept me quiet and isolated from others in my creative field. I worried about stuttering during readings as I foolishly believed the audience hearing me stutter would laugh and I would make a fool of myself. On my journey I discovered that my stutter is my superpower. When I write my poems and recite them to audiences I am being an example of how to overcome any obstacle, challenge, disability or trauma will inspire others to use their voice in a creative way.
Although I started off an erotic love poet, I have evolved using my passion to craft poems about my culture, mi lengua and my life as a bilingual Latine with a stutter. I want my poems to inspire others to share their own bilingual poems and stories.
My latest poetry collection, La Lengua Inside Me, reflect this. La Lengua Inside Me, published by FlowerSong Press, reflects my rediscovering my bilingual voice and honoring my familia, artists, poets, and heroes from my culture. I am so proud of this book, my six poetry collection, as it shows how writers can connect with their audience by making the personal… universal. My poems reflect this and already so many people are connecting with my bilingual poems from La Lengua Inside Me.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I believe it was passion for art, music, film, writing and poetry that sparked my path in this creative field. My lust for learning from artists like Kahlo, Nin and Leonard Cohen that came before me, made me treat my craft, not as a profession, but as a calling I was destined to answer. My dedication to writing every day, exercising my creative mind, like an athlete works out, had made me the successful poet I am today. I also love to read. Mi Papi shared this joy of reading and reading as many styles and genres inspires me daily. Gertrude Stein said it best, “Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing.” Reading poetry and literature sparks my work. Reading is a joyful love that makes me a better writer.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
Former and current NBA greats like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Steph Curry. When I am talking to students who ask how I deal and have felt with rejections from publications and publishers, I ask them to name their favorite NBA player. Some writers mention Curry and then I say, what does Steph do when he misses a shot or loses? Does he quit, walk off the floor and take his ball home. No, he keeps shooting and shooting. He, like LeBron and Kobe, before him, practices to become the best they be. I learn from these greats and take their work ethic and apply it to my daily writing regimen. It works. I can’t tell you how many times I have been overlooked or rejected and it just makes me work harder. Rejection makes me want to be an ever better poet and author. It makes me cherish my victories and publications and the losses fuel my creative fire. I also have an amazing community of writers that inspire me when I am down and doubting myself. I am thankful that my poet amigas y amigos are more like sisters and brothers. Poets like Jenn Givhan and Jean-Pierre Rueda’s work ethic and poetic professionalism inspire me daily to be the best writer and poet I can be. I am so lucky to be poet. I take my calling and career seriously and I have these heroes and poets to spark me every day in my creative journey that I am currently enjoying.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photos at the Last Bookstore by Jean-Pierre Rueda Close Up Reading photo by Luivette Resto 2nd Reading photo by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo  Selfies by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

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