2020-2021 Events
Spring 2021 Events
Latino and Latina Studies Spring Symposium: Writing to Live:
February 10 and 11
February 10, 7PM CST – Fred Arroyo and Myriam Gurba
Click here to register for this 2/10 reading.
Fred Arroyo is the author of Western Avenue and Other Fictions and The Region of Lost Names: A Novel. A recipient of an Individual Artist Program Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission, Arroyo’s fiction is a part of the Library of Congress series Spotlight on U.S. Hispanic Writers. Arroyo’s writing is also included in Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing and The Colors of Nature: Essays on Culture, Identity and the Natural World. In the past decade Arroyo has driven considerable miles along the northern border of the United States, particularly in Ontario, Quebec, and the maritime regions, where he’s camped, walked, canoed, and fished in a real and imagined North Country that’s influencing a new collection of short stories and a book of poems. Arroyo is an assistant professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University.
Myriam Gurba is a writer and artist. She is the author of the true-crime memoir Mean, a New York Times editors’ choice. O, the Oprah Magazine, ranked Mean as one of the best LGBTQ books of all time. Publishers’ Weekly describes Gurba as having a voice like no other. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Paris Review, TIME.com, and 4Columns. She has shown art in galleries, museums, and community centers. She lives in Long Beach, California, with herself.
February 11, 3PM CST – Panel Discussion:
Fred Arroyo, Alex Espinoza, and Daisy Hernández
Moderated by Professor Benigno Trigo, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Click here to register for this panel discussion.
February 11, 7PM CST – Alex Espinoza and Daisy Hernández
Click here to register for this 2/11 reading.
Alex Espinoza was born in Tijuana, Mexico to parents from the state of Michoacán and raised in suburban Los Angeles. His first novel, Still Water Saints, was published by Random House in 2007 and was named a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection. The book was released simultaneously in Spanish, under the title Los santos de agua , translated by Lilliana Valenzuela. His second novel, The Five Acts of Diego León, was also published by Random House in March 2013. His newest book is Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime, which was published by The Unnamed Press in June, 2019. Alex is the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at UC Riverside.
Daisy Hernández is the author of the award-winning memoir A Cup of Water Under My Bed and coeditor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. The former editor of ColorLines magazine, she has reported for National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Slate, and she has written for NPR’s All Things Considered and CodeSwitch. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Aster(ix), Bellingham Review, Brevity, Dogwood, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, Juked, and Rumpus among other journals. A contributing editor for the Buddhist magazine Tricycle, Daisy is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing Program at Miami University in Ohio.
Fall 2020 Events
#somosVU Hispanic Heritage Month: September 14-October 16
In conjunction with the Latino and Latina Studies Program and the Association of Latin American Students, the 2020 Hispanic Heritage Month theme is #somosVU, meaning “We are Vanderbilt.”
This dynamic message calls the community into conversation and emphasizes the values of connection, inclusion, and celebration that are engrained in HHM. #somosVU addresses the need for the visibility of Latinx presence, influence, and representation on campus while honoring the accomplishments of Latinx leaders and groups like ALAS, AMIGOS, LATS, LMSA, SACNAS, and the Latinx Seminarians. #somosVU encourages faculty-student mentor relationships, as well as solidarity among allies, to create opportunities to celebrate and elevate their Latinx peers. #somosVU charges all of us to build an inclusive Latinx community at Vanderbilt University.
The most up-to-date digital calendar of events is available online at vanderbilt.edu/scsji/hhm
Wednesday, September 30: The UNAFRAID virtual film screening
7:00 pm Online via Zoom, https://vanderbilt.zoom.us/j/5054818994, Meeting ID: 505 481 8994
¿Qué? Join us via Zoom to watch,The UNAFRAID: a documentary about undocumented students fighting for equality in Georgia.
¿Cuándo? Wednesday, September 30th, 7PM
¿Quién? Student Center for Social Justice & Identity and the Latino and Studies Program
Thursday, September 10: Bienvenida Reception
5:00 pm Latinx Community Bienvenida Reception, online via Zoom
