Latino poets to present and read work for S.A. Yoder Lecture at Goshen College

Brenda Cárdenas and Maurice Kilewein Guevara


Lecture: S.A. Yoder Lecture with poets Maurice Kilewein Guevara and Brenda Cárdenas
Date and time: Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m.
Location: Rieth Recital Hall, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: free and open to the public

GOSHEN, Ind. – As Hispanic Heritage Month begins Sept. 15, Latino poets Maurice Kilwein Guevara and Brenda Cárdenas will be at Goshen College to help celebrate with a presentation of the 38^th Annual S.A. Yoder Lecture on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Music Center's Rieth Recital Hall. They will share poems from their latest collections. A reception and book signing will follow the reading, which is free and open to the public.

Guevara and Cárdenas, who both teach creative writing and Latino studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will also present a convocation on Monday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. in the Church-Chapel.

Guevara, known as a dynamic presenter of his work, has given poetry performances in Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Spain and throughout the United States. His works have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies and have been adapted for stage. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), and was the first Latino to be elected as its president. His first book of poetry titled, "Postmortem" won the National Contemporary Poetry Series Competition.

Cárdenas explores the relationship between music and photography with her poetry. She co-edited "Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest," which received first place in the 2002 Chicago Women in Publishing Award for excellence in editing. She has published a book of poetry titled "From the Tongues of Brick and Stone" and her full-length book "Boomerang" will be published soon by Bilingual Review Press.

The S.A. Yoder Lecture Series honors Dr. Samuel A. Yoder, a professor at Goshen College from 1930 to 1935 and again from 1946 until his death in 1970. During his career, he was a Fulbright lecturer at Anatolia College in Greece, Smith-Mundt lecturer at the University of Hue in Vietnam, visiting professor at Taiwan University in Formosa, welfare officer under the United Nations in Egypt and Goshen College Study-Service Term leader in Jamaica. Gifts to the series by his family, students and friends have made the endowed lectureship possible.

Previous S.A. Yoder lecturers have included Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney, Newberry Award Winner Madeleine L'Engle, humorist Garrison Keillor, Haitian fiction writer Edwidge Danticat, Indiana essayist Scott Russell Sanders and the late American poet Denise Levertov.

– By Tyler Falk

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.