May 8, 2007
Latino poet Martin Espada rescheduled at the University of Washington
WHAT: The Reed-Osheroff Lecture honors two Seattle-area veterans of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of American volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Bob Reed (1914-2005) and Abe Osheroff (b. 1915) fought for social justice not only in Spain but in World War II, the American labor movement, the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and the protests against the war in Iraq.
Osheroff will speak briefly at the end of Espada’s presentation.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 29, 2007
WHERE: 239 Savery Hall, UW Seattle campus
DETAILS: Sometimes called the Pablo Neruda of United States poetry, Martin Espada is committed to his work as part of the struggle for social justice.
Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1957, Espada writes from his Puerto Rican heritage as well as jobs ranging from bouncer to tenant lawyer. He has published 13 books as a poet, editor and translator. His eighth book of poems, “The Republic of Poetry,” was named one of the Best Books of 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle.
His previous collection, “Alabanza: New and Selected Poems (1982-2002),” received the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement and was named an American Library Association Notable Book of 2003.
Another book, “Imagine the Angels of Bread,” won an American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Espada has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Robert Creeley Award, a PEN/Revson Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.
His poems have appeared in “The New Yorker,” “The New York Times Book Review,” “Harper’s,” “The Nation” and “The Best American Poetry.”
Espada is an English professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he teaches creative writing and the works of Pablo Neruda.
SPONSORS: Spanish and Portuguese Studies, Department of English, Office of Minority Affairs, Department of American Ethnic Studies, Instituto Cervantes, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.
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For more information: Contact Tony Geist at tgeist@u.washington.edu or (206) 543-2022.
