Poet, Activist Carolyn Forché at UHD Jan. 23
By Mike Emery
The University of Houston-Downtown has long hosted acclaimed authors, poets and artists. To kick off 2020, the institution continues this trend with a visit from acclaimed author, educator and activist Carolyn Forché.
Forché will deliver a free reading at UHD’s Welcome Center at 2:30 p.m., Jan. 23. This event is presented by the Department of English and open to the public. Tickets are available here.
Forché’s recent memoir, “What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance,” which recounts her experiences in the early 1980s in El Salvador during its civil war. The book was among the top five finalists for the 2019 National Book Award and earned the 2019 Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America.
Known for her “poetry of witness,” Forché has documented social injustices and her own life experiences through her writings. Other works include “The Horse on Our Balcony” (2010), “Blue Hour” (2003); “The Angel of History” (1994); “Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness” (1993); and many other collections of essays, poems and translations.
Her work has earned Forché the Robert Creeley Award, the Windham-Campbell Prize, the Edita and Ira Morris Hiroshima Foundation Award for Peace and Culture, and the Denise Levertov Award. For her commitment as a poet, Forché has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Lannan Foundation.
The University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) is the second-largest university in Houston and has served the educational needs of the nation’s fourth-largest city since 1974. As one of four distinct public universities in the University of Houston System, UHD is a comprehensive, four-year university led by President Loren J. Blanchard. Annually, UHD educates approximately 14,000 students, boasts more than 66,000 alumni, and offers 45 bachelor’s degrees, 12 master’s degrees, and 19 online programs within four colleges: Marilyn Davies College of Business, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Public Service, and College of Sciences and Technology. UHD has one of the lowest tuition rates in Texas.
U.S. News and World Report ranked UHD among the nation’s Best Online Bachelor’s Programs for Applied Administration and Best Online Master’s Programs in Criminal Justice, as well as a Top Performer in Social Mobility. The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse ranked UHD one of the best colleges in the U.S. for its 2024 rankings, with notable distinctions: No. 1 for diversity (tied) and No. 3 for student experience. The University is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a Minority-Serving Institution, and a Military Friendly School. For more information on the University of Houston-Downtown, visit uhd.edu.
