The College of Humanities & Social Sciences’ Department of English and the Cultural Enrichment Center (CEC) is hosting, “A Poetry Reading by Raquel Salas Rivera” Puerto Rican poet, editor, translator and 2018-19 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia Raquel Salas Rivera. 

The co-sponsored event (with the Center for Latino Studies), on Thursday, February 17, will feature a zoom meeting with students from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and a virtual public reading at 2:30 p.m., which will be made available for viewing via the Cultural Enrichment Center and English department websites.  To join the afternoon reading, register here.

“Dr. Lau Cesarco Eglin (UHD Assistant Professor of Creative Writing) recommended that we extend an invitation to Dr. Salas Rivera to build on our tradition of inviting cutting-edge writers and thinkers to UHD to meet our students, share their work, and give our students a sense of what they themselves might accomplish as writers and thinkers in a challenging, complicated world,” said Dr. Jane Creighton, Professor of English.

When asked why Salas Rivera’s work is relevant to our students, Creighton emphasized, “Salas Rivera is part of a long tradition of Puerto Rican poets, writers, and artists who are passionately engaged the fate and future of Puerto Rico,” she said. “A number of our students are reading his book, “Lo Terciario / The Tertiary,” which is a full-length collection of poems contending with Puerto Rico’s debt crisis after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the imposition of austerity practices that are having a profound effect on the well-being Puerto Rico’s diverse communities. His vivid and imaginative take on the vitality of a people struggling for social and economic justice is of great and comparable relevance to our students here in Houston.” 

Creighton’s believes that students “will be inspired to continue developing the power of their own voice, as we are clearly seeing them do in our classes.” 

Upcoming Spring Events 

• Two literary readings featuring members of the creative writing faculty (TBD) on Tuesday, March 8, and Thursday, March 31, at 4 p.m., TDECU Tour Room. 
   
• The Department of English is hosting guest speaker UHD English Alumna Ana Laurel, attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, as part of its Literature, Culture, Careers on Monday, April 11, at 11:30 a.m. (location TBD).