Poet, essayist and political activist Martin Espada will visit Hamilton College in November. He will read from his work on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn, and will give a lecture, "Poetry and Politics," on Friday, Nov. 8, at 12 noon in the Red Pit. Both events are free and open to the public. Espada's visit is sponsored by the English department, Spanish department, Office of the President, The Levitt Center and La Vanguardia.
Called "the Latino poet of his generation," MartÃn Espada was born in Brooklyn in 1957. His fifth book of poetry, Imagine the Angels of Bread, won an American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Another volume of poems, Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover's Hands won both the Paterson Poetry Prize and the PEN/Revson Fellowship, whose judges declared, "This is political poetry at its best .... The greatness of Espada's art, like all great arts, is that it gives dignity to the insulted and the injured of the earth." His latest collection of poetry, A Mayan Astronomer in Hell's Kitchen, was called "an unforgettable journey to the underworld," earning praise for the poet as "the moral conscience for our nation."
Espada's poems have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Harper's, The Nation, The Pushcart Prize and The Best American Poetry. Much of his writing arises from his Puerto Rican heritage and his work experiences, ranging from bouncer to tenant lawyer. He is the editor of Poetry Like Bread: Poets of the Political Imagination from Curbstone Press and El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry, which won a Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book Award. The recipient of fellowships from the NEA and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Espada is a professor in the department of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He was recently named the first Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts.
