Blue Ink Tears

Author Reading and Literacy Workshops
Led By Roberto Germán

Experience the powerful and poignant words of Roberto Germán with his latest poetry collection, "Blue Ink Tears." This bilingual book encapsulates 20 years of Germán's life, touching on themes of love, race, identity, and everyday struggles.

Divided into three parts, each section delves into a different aspect of life, with poetic forms ranging from free verse to haiku, providing a diverse and engaging read. Through vivid detail and heartfelt emotion, Germán offers a unique perspective on growing up as a young Black Dominican-American, offering readers a glimpse into a world rarely explored in literature.

Book Roberto Germán for an author reading and/or literary workshop today. We invite you to enjoy feedback from past participants:

Students and Faculty at Lawrence Public Schools

Chanea Bond

This week in Pitso, we were visited by the former Director of the Middle School, Roberto Germán, who read some poems out of his new book, Blue Ink Tears. His collection of poems is currently a bestseller on Amazon.

While Roberto read his variety of poems–some funny, some sad, some painful, some heartwarming–I felt empowered. He showed me how much experiences influence someone's future, and how they influence growth. His strong voice left a feeling on my soul. Go by his book on Amazon now!

Makai Nguyen ‘27
Headwaters School, Austin, TX

Roberto's work is not only timely, it connected to our students from 5th through 8th grade. Kids who didn't typically share work felt inspired to share. Students thought about their families, their cultures, and who they are. Roberto is engaging and charismatic and humble. His experience as an educator is clear in the way he conducts his workshops. Highly recommended for all levels of writers!

Emily Vitris
Head of School, St. Francis School, Austin TX

The 7th Graders absolutely loved Roberto. They were 100% engaged throughout- you never would have known they'd been complaining about a "writer's workshop" all morning. They wanted to write for him. I was extremely moved by my own students and their willingness to be vulnerable and read out loud and tell the truth and accept these were works in progress. Some of our shyest spoke up. Some of our most gifted. A few of our struggling students. No one clowned or disrespected. They wanted him to sign their books (what a fantastic treat!). One of our tougher kids was referencing some of the poems the next day in math class and asked if anyone had their copy on them to get the quote right. Six students had it on them, right there in math class.

Allie

I really enjoyed the writing workshop with Roberto Germán. From the very beginning of the workshop, he got us all engaged and excited to write. Even though it was the first time meeting most of us, he tried to connect with us and learn all our names. He showed us his book and read a couple of pieces from it and he really encouraged us to be really open and free with our writing and poetry. I liked to write before but after the workshop, I really came to appreciate it as an outlet to let out all of the things I might not be able to talk about. I really loved the whole experience and really honing my writing skills.

Kaitlyn Chau, 8th Grade

The 7th graders loved it so much they almost all stayed around to get their books signed cutting into their recess time! They loved it and were focused and amazing during the workshop.

Yesterday at least three 5th/6th graders chose to read from his book during Wednesday Morning Poetry!

I will have copies of his book available all the way through our poetry unit, and we will read a few as a whole class.

Jim Parker, 7^th Grade Language Arts Teacher

I thought that the topics, pacing, and goal of the workshop were all perfect for the 8th graders. The structure of talking about his own experience, then having the students work on a writing prompt, then going back to his own experiences was great. Roberto never asked the students to listen for excessive amounts of time and gave them multiple opportunities throughout the session to interact with him and share their work with the group. Overall, Roberto's time with the students was very valuable and he succeeded in getting the students to reflect on their experiences and translate their feelings into writing.

Emily Ellis, 8^th Grade Language Arts Teacher

We loved having Roberto on the MMFA campus! Children were encouraged to write and empowered to share their vision throughout Roberto's presentation and were supported to do so in meaningful and connected ways. The presentation was engaging, interactive and inspiring.

Amy Osborn
Director of Teaching & Learning
Magnolia Montessori For All

The students had SUCH a positive, visceral reaction to Blue Ink Tears -- they exceeded my expectations.

I especially found the "Lawrence kids" to resonate with our mini-unit on Perspectives of Lawrence: inspired by "City of Promise," I paired Atkinson's op-ed with Lane Glenn's "Lawrence: No Longer a 'City of the Damned'" and also included some archival images and timelines of Western European immigrant neighborhoods. This made for a VERY robust - and enlightening - anti-racist discussion.

They loved your works, Roberto, and in the words of some of my Latina all-stars (one of whom wrote a powerhouse poem in the style of "City of Promise"): [they] felt so seen and represented."

Thank you, thank you!

Theresa
English Teacher
Central Catholic High School

You made such a positive impact on the students yesterday.  You provide a wonderful example of our Xaverian spiritual values in action.  It was wonderful to see the grade 7 students share their writing.  I, too, look forward to future collaboration.

Keith Crowley
St. John’s Prep

Thank you Roberto and Keith for the vision and opportunity for our community. Our students thrived in some surprising and inspiring ways yesterday. Your message was powerful, Roberto. Thank you, both, very much.

Jason Larocque
Associate Principal for Grades 6, 7 and 8
St. John's Prep
Danvers, MA

Thank you so much for letting me watch you teach yesterday! I was so moved to see how you opened yourself up to those young boys and they, in turn, opened up. I know how much our children need to be seen and heard. You told each one, “speak loud and clear because your voice matters!”  So powerful.

I also wrote to one of your prompts and was struck by how your examples and then guidelines made it easy for me to access what I wanted to say. I taught writing to 3-5 graders for many years and helping kids find their voice is so tricky. You achieved it by connecting with them authentically.

I’ll be talking with some folks to see whether they might be able to bring you to their schools. I know so many places where you’d have a great impact.

Lynn Peters
Flourish Collective

My name is Nayely Almanzar and I was a student in the audience of Author Reading for Blue Ink Tears at the Lawrence Public Library. I wanted to take a moment and express my appreciation and gratitude for sharing a piece of literature that was incredibly moving.

It was very inspiring and admirable to see living proof of a product of Lawrence. It is not very often where we have the opportunity to see where the talent of Lawrence resides. Your book, Blue Ink Tears, is relatable and resonates deeply with many. It depicts the highs and lows of life surrounding culture, identity, and obstacles. It made me realize that throughout the many hardships one faces, it will not always be night. The sun will rise again.

Cuba's and your brother's works are amazing. It puts into perspective that amongst the differences that separate us, we all need one another- or as you said, look after and love our neighbors.

Continue to do what you do. The mouth and language is powerful, and just by spreading the message and the power of literature can reach many. Thank you for signing my book, I look forward to seeing more of your works.

Nayely Almanzar
Student
Northern Essex Community College