February 29 Latino Writers Collective event

Segunda Página Reading Series

Andrés Rodríguez is the author of a book of poetry, Night Song (Tia
Chucha Press), and one of literary criticism, Book of the Heart: The
Poetics, Letters, and Life of John Keats (Lindisfarne Press). His
poems have appeared in The Americas Review, Bilingual Review, Blue
Mesa Review, The Cortland Review, Palabra, Valparaiso Poetry Review,
and other journals and have been included in Currents from the Dancing
River (Harcourt Brace), Dream of a Word (Tia Chucha Press), New
Chicano/Chicana Writing (University of Arizona Press), and Wild Song
(University of Georgia Press). He won the 2007 Maureen Egan Writers
Exchange Prize for Poetry sponsored by Poets & Writers. He has degrees
in English from the University of Iowa, Stanford University, and the
University of California-Santa Cruz and has taught writing and
literature around the country.

Gloria Martinez Adams is a southwestern Chicana, transplanted in the
Midwest. "I belong to part of the rebellious generation that broke
loose of the segregation imposed on Hispanos in the 50's, 60's & 70's.
That is where my storytelling comes in – life was good simply sitting
around a wood burning stove, pine & piñon permeating the air,
listening to stories passed down from generations of Spanish settlers.
Those tales never grow old for me."

Maria Vasquez Boyd continues exhibiting, painting and illustrating
across the country. Some of her works includes murals in Mexico. She
is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, Boyd returned to teach
in the Design/Illustration Department. She taught at the Nelson Atkins
Museum, worked for Hallmark Cards, and currently is the gallery
coordinator for the Guadalupe Center and for The Writers Place. Boyd
continues to write poetry and is a founding member of the Latino
Writers Collective.

Gabriela N. Lemmons was born and raised in South Texas, a stone's
throw from El Rio Grande. "As an only child of migrant workers, I was
raised in a household where Spanish was the spoken language. I enjoy
writing bi-lingual poetry and memoir. I am inspired to write so that
my only child, Javier, will one day read about the abuelitos he never
met. But most importantly, I write so that I may never forget where I
came from."

Chato Villalobos was born in Los Angeles California but has lived in
Kansas City Missouri most of his life. Chato is a new member of the
Latino Writers Collective and has been involved in the performing arts
for over 15 years including acting with the Coterie Theater and as a
former folkloric dancer with El Grupo Atotonilco. A Kansas City,
Missouri, police officer, Chato's current loves are writing poetry and
youth advocacy.

Reception
5:30 p.m.
Reading and booksigning
7:00 p.m.
Friday, February 29
The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania
For more information or to RSVP, call 816-333-6349 or 816-809-4074 (bilingual)

Co-sponsored by BkMk Press, Guadalupe Centers, Inc., Kansas City
Hispanic News, Kansas City Public Library, Mattie Rhodes Latino
Cultural Arts Division, UMKC College of Arts & Sciences, and The
Writers Place. Financial assistance for this project was provided by
the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.