Juan Felipe Herrera, recently named Poet Laureate of the United States, will read from his works at the 2016 Jean Burden Poetry Reading to be held on Thursday, January 28, 2016. This event will be held in the Golden Eagle Ballroom at the California State University, Los Angeles. Doors will open at 5:30pm for a buffet reception and the program will begin at 6:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.There will be book sales and signing following the reading.
This event is made possible by the College of Arts and Letters, the Department of English, the Cal State LA Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, the Cross Cultural Centers, Statement Magazine, the Statement Unbound Literary Society, City Lights Press, and Poets & Writers, Inc.
The longest serving member on the Advisory Board for Cal State LA's Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, Juan Felipe Herrera will also be conducting writing workshops for Cal State LA students and sitting for an interview with the editors of Statement Magazine, the campus' award-winning literary arts publication. Herrera is the third poet laureate to read in the prestigious Burden Poetry series, joining Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States.
About the Speaker
Juan Felipe Herrera is the 21st Poet Laureate of the United State (2015-2016) and is the first Latino to hold the position. From 2012-2014, Herrera served as California State Poet Laureate. Herrera’s many collections of poetry include Notes on the Assemblage; Senegal Taxi; Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems, a recipient of the PEN/Beyond Margins Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross The Border: Undocuments 1971-2007. He is also the author of Crashboomlove: A Novel in Verse, which received the Americas Award. His books of prose for children include: SkateFate, Calling The Doves, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Award; Upside Down Boy, which was adapted into a musical for young audiences in New York City; and Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box. Herrera is also a performance artist and activist on behalf of migrant and indigenous communities and at-risk youth.
from Blue Flower Arts (http://blueflowerarts.com/artist/juan-felipe-herrera/)
For information on parking, please visit Cal State LA Campus Maps. For more information, contact the Department of English at (323) 343-4140.
© UC Riverside.
This event is supported in part by Poets & Writers through grants it has received from The James Irvine Foundation and the Hearst Foundation.
Banner image copyright Carlos Puma/UC Riverside.