We are thrilled to welcome Melinda González to our Wednesday series of ten-minute live Zoom readings.
7:30 - 7:40 pm EST
Hosted by Thomas Fucaloro
The reading will be streamed live to our facebook page and you may also register to watch directly on Zoom. Registration for Zoom viewing is available through Eventbrite. Please register before 7:15 pm on the day of the event.
Dr. Melinda González (@lapoetaguerrera), a native of Newark, New Jersey with ancestral home in Moca, Puerto Rico, is an Afro-Indigenous poet, spoken word artist, storyteller, anthropologist, professor, and workshop facilitator of Puerto Rican descent. A self-described scholar-activist-poet, she has performed poetry internationally under the name Poeta Guerrera. As a socio-cultural anthropologist, focused on environmental anthropology, Melinda’s work maps how disaster is differentially distributed across race, class, and gender, and she brings decolonial and indigenous research methods to environmental justice studies.
She has facilitated creative writing and academic workshops as tools to resist colonial repression and to help poets, writers, and academics to maintain their authentic voice as they journey through their academic careers. A two-part online series - Creative Expression for Academics: A Poetry Workshop, uses the sacred art of writing poetry as a way to help academics re-connect with their authentic voice. A poetry workshop - Confidence & Creativity: Affirming your Power With Poetry, uses poetry writing and goal setting to build confidence and affirm collective and individual power. Melinda also teaches free webinars to help nontraditional and first-generation students navigate the academy.
As a professor, Melinda has taught courses at Rutgers University, Oregon State University, Brooklyn College – CUNY, William Paterson University, and Union County College. She has given talks and workshops at many institutions, such as Wheaton College (Mass.), Bethlehem Public Library (PA), the University of North Texas, Brooklyn Arts Council, Lehman College, University of Idaho, DePaul University, and Muhlenberg College.
Her poetry and writing have been featured in Barzakh Magazine, Defunkt Magazine, the journal of Feminist Anthropology, West Trade Review, La Libreta Online Literary Journal, Variant Literature, Inc., Funicular Magazine, Yes Magazine, and many others. She is currently working on her first press-released poetry manuscript; and has self-published two poetry anthologies. She has had the privilege of performing poetry on many stages, including but not limited to being a featured poet at 5th Annual Sunset Park Puerto Rican Day Parade, El Barrio Artspace 109, Blue Stockings Bookstore, the Capicu Cultural Showcase, Howard University, the Schomburg Center, Cemi Underground, and the Langston Hughes House. Melinda participated in the filming of the New Muslim Cool (PBS), and she has been featured in Latina Magazine. She is a recipient of 2022 Words of Resistance and Restoration Poetry Fellowship from Roots. Wounds. Words. (RWW) and the 2021 Muslim Storytellers Fellowship from The Highlights Foundation. Melinda holds a BA from Barnard College, an MA from Rutgers University, and a PhD in Anthropology & Geography with a minor concentration in English Literature from Louisiana State University.