(October 29, 2015) — United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera will return home to be honored at two Fresno State events this week, during which he will invite Central Valley residents to participate in his Library of Congress project “La Casa de Colores/The House of Colors.”
He will read a poem at the California Latino Leadership Education Summit today (Oct. 29), the first of the two day event on campus. On Friday, Oct. 30, he will be honored by the university. Both events are sold out.
Earlier today, he was honored by the Fresno City Council with a resolution sponsored by Councilmember Esmeralda Soria.
Herrera, professor and chair emeritus of the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department at Fresno State, is seeking monthly poetry submissions for the “La Familia/The Family” portion of his laureate project.
The theme for this month is “Migrants: Portraits and Friendships” and the deadline for submissions is Nov. 14. The project is open to anyone at least 13 years of age, and Fresno State students are encouraged to participate.
Only one poetry submission per author will be accepted during each 30-day themed period and poems should not exceed 200 characters.
Selected works will be added to an epic poem by April 2016.
Herrera is also constructing “El Jardín/The Garden,” a feature of the project that will include resources from the Library of Congress through webcasts, a poem response from Herrera and the curator’s comments.
For more information on the project and a submission form for original work, visit the “La Casa de Colores/The House of Colors” website at http://www.loc.gov/poetry/casadecolores/ .
(University Communications news assistant Erika Denise Castañon contributed to this report).
Related Links:
California Latino Leadership Education Summit
Latino Summit press release – bit.ly/FSN-CALatinoEdSum15
New US poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera praised as humble, champion of voices
