Public Conversation and Poetry Workshop with José Olivarez
April 3, 2027 - 10:30am - 3pm
Devereaux Room, Rialto Theater Center
$40 - Registration required, (includes light, catered lunch onsite) - registration link below
Saturday’s activities will begin at 10:30 with a public conversation with Olivarez. After a brief catered lunch, Olivarez will lead participants in a generative workshop with writing prompts, sample poems, and some instruction.
The son of Mexican Immigrants, Olivarez grew up in South Chicago in Calumet City. His education on the streets, and in the halls of Harvard (where he earned his BA) have enabled him to connect with many contemporary youth and bathe all readers in a reality of life in Latinx America. He is the author of two poetry collections, Citizen Illegal in 2018 and Promises of Gold in 2023. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere.
Harvard Magazine described Olivarez’s debut poetry collection, Citizen Illegal, as an examination of race, migration, language, and the contradictions of the first-generation immigrant experience. Other themes focus on family and Mexican American identity. The book won the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.
His second collection, Promises of Gold (Henry Holt and Company, 2023) was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry. Its themes: Mexican identity, friendship, romantic love, loss and the culture of food. In a review for the Poetry Foundation, Diego Báez wrote that the poems explore desire and fulfillment through relationships with countries, cultures, lovers, friends, and family. Notably, all of the poems in the collections are presented in English and Spanish.
Event Information
| Event Date | Saturday April 03, 2027 10:30 AM - 3:00 PM |
| Capacity | 80 |
| Price | $40 (includes light, catered lunch onsite) |
| Location | Rialto Theater - 228 E 4th St, Loveland, CO |
| Categories | Events |