Carmen Giménez Smith, award-winning poet, memoirist, editor, and educator, will discuss her publishing, writing, and academic roles followed by a public reading from her newest book Be Recorder, which was long-listed for the the National Book Award in Poetry. The talk will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, at the Uptown Galleries in Uptown Station.
Giménez Smith is a founding fellow and co-director of CantoMundo, a national organization founded in 2009 that “cultivates a community of Latinx poets through workshops, symposia, and public readings.” She has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, a winner for the Juniper Prize for Poetry, and the recipient of an American Book Award.
Born in New York, Giménez Smith is the daughter of South American immigrants and she earned her undergraduate degree in English from San Jose State University and her MFA from the University of Iowa’s Writers Workshop. She has served as editor-in-chief of the literary journal Puerto del Sol, and she has held a seat on VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. Currently, Giménez Smith is the publisher of Noemi Press, a 501 (c)(3) literary arts organization, which has published over 40 full-length collections of poetry and fiction since its founding in 2002. A professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Giménez Smith is also the current editor of The Nation’s poetry section, alongside Stephanie Burt.
Giménez Smith’s work explores issues affecting the lives of females, including Latina identity—the ways in which identity is inherited and constructed/reconstructed—and frequently references myth and memory.
The event is hosted by Illinois State University’s Publications Unit.
For additional information, contact Steve Halle, director of the Publications Unit at (309) 438-7481 or cshalle@ilstu.edu. Follow the Publications Unit on Twitter at @PubUnit_ISU or visit our website.
