Poet Jose Rodriguez to Read for Lecture-Concert Series
JONESBORO – The Lecture-Concert Series at Arkansas State University will present "An Evening with Jose Rodriguez," who will read from his prize-winning poetry collection, Thursday, April 13.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, Auditorium Room 1028. Admission is free.
The College of Liberal Arts and Communication, Department of English, Philosophy and World Languages, and the Multicultural Center are joining the Lecture-Concert Series to bring the speaker to A‑State.
"Jose Antonio Rodriguez is an up-and-coming poet, memoirist and literary translator. His prose is honest, raw and strikingly beautiful," said Dr. Kristi Costello, assistant professor of composition, rhetoric, and writing studies and director of the Writing Center. "His work has been given nods by Pushcart, national book award winners like Maria Mazziotti Gillan, and American Book Award Winner and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Sandra Cisneros. One day, we'll all be eager to say to anyone who will listen that this world-renowned writer came to Arkansas State University to share his work and his time with us."
Rodriguez's poetry collections include "The Shallow End of Sleep," published in 2011 by Tia Chucha Press/Northwestern University Press, and "Backlit Hour" published in 2013 by Stephen F. Austin University Press/Texas A&M University Press).
His work has appeared in various journals and magazines, including Poetry, The New Republic, Paterson Literary Review, Green Mountains Review, Lake Effect, Cream City Review, Water-Stone Review, Tusculum Review, Upstreet, Big Muddy and Paddlefish.
He is the recipient of the 2014 RHINO Founders' Prize, the 2009 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, and four nominations for the Pushcart Prize. He currently teaches at The University of Texas-Pan American and has a memoir forthcoming this year with Oklahoma Press.
The Lecture-Concert Series serves Arkansas State and the surrounding communities by bringing notable guest speakers and performers of diverse backgrounds and wide appeal to the campus, according to Dr. Tim Crist, chair of the Lecture-Concert Committee.
For more details about the series, interested individuals may visit the Lecture-concert Series website, http://www.AState.edu/lectureconcert, or contact Crist, tcrist@AState.edu, (870) 972‑2094.
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