Juan Felipe Herrera, poet laureate of the United States, will visit Notre Dame on Oct. 5 and 6, according to a University press release.
Herrera was appointed the first Latino poet laureate in the U.S. in 2015, the country’s highest honor in poetry, according to the release. He is the author of 28 books of poetry, young adult novels and children’s series, including “Half the World in Light: New and Selected Poems,” winner of National Book Critics Circle Award and International Latino Book Award.
On Oct. 5, Herrera will read some of his works, followed by a question-and-answer session for members of the campus community. The event is sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies and the Office of the President and includes a student performance of one of Herrera’s poems
The reading will take place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Admission will be free but requires a ticket, which can be reserved by calling DPAC.
The following day, a reception will be held in Herrera’s honor from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in McKenna Hall, where he will be presented with a parting gift followed by a brief presentation from students. While on campus, Herrera will also visit an undergraduate literature class and have lunches with students in the University’s creative writing program, according to the release.
Herrera’s visit is sponsored by the Henkels Lecture Fund of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the José E. Fernández Hispanic Studies Initiative, the Graduate School, the Creative Writing Program, the Department of English, the Department of American Studies, Multicultural Student Programs and Services and the Department of Film, Television and Theatre.
“In addition to giving the Notre Dame community the opportunity to experience his poetry, I’m especially pleased that our students, both undergraduate and graduate, will be able to dialogue and engage our nation’s poet laureate,” Francisco Aragón, associate professional specialist in the Institute for Latino Studies, said in the release.
Herrera was elected a chancellor for the Academy of American Poets in 2011 and served as the poet laureate of California from 2012 to 2015. He is the recipient of two Latino Hall of Fame Poetry Awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
