Conway, Ark.—The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation will host Marcelo Hernandez Castillo as Murphy Visiting Poet on Wednesday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Reves Recital Hall in the Trieschmann Fine Arts Building at Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway, AR. He will read and discuss his award-winning poetry that explores migration, belonging, and identity.
A reception and book signing in Trieschmann Gallery will follow the reading. This event is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required.
“Marcelo Hernández Castillo’s work gives testimony to life between borders: Mexico and the United States, Spanish and English, parents and children, friends and lovers, the human and non-human,” said Dr. Zach Brandner, assistant professor of Spanish and a Hendrix-Murphy Fellow in Spanish.
“As educational as it is artful, his work offers fresh glimpses into the broken United States immigration system through its hopeful explorations of loss, addressing a universal longing for home and wholeness. Castillo’s innovative approaches to writing poetry and memoir will deepen our compassion and enrich our creative activism.”
The first undocumented student to graduate from the Helen Zell Writer's Program at the University of Michigan, Castillo is a poet, essayist, translator, and immigration advocate.
He is the author of “Children of the Land: A Memoir”; “Cenzontle,” which was the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize; and “Dulce,” winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. Most recently, he is the co-editor of the anthology “Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora.”
In 2015 Castillo co-founded Undocupoets to protest the immigration status-based, discriminatory practices of many poetry book contests. The Undocupoets advocacy helped eliminate citizenship requirements from all major poetry book prizes in the United States. For their work, the co-founders were awarded the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award established by Poets & Writers.
He currently teaches creative writing at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas and the Ashland University low-residency MFA program, as well as leading poetry workshops for incarcerated youth in Northern California as the Yuba and Sutter County Poet Laureate. Learn more about Marcelo Hernandez Castillo and his work at hendrixmurphy.org/castillo.
About the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation
The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language were founded in 1978 by a gift from Charles H. Murphy, Jr., former CEO of Murphy Oil Corporation, in memory of his mother Bertie Wilson Murphy. Their mission is to enhance and enrich the study of literature and language at Hendrix College. For more information, visit hendrixmurphy.org.
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges and celebrated among the country’s leading liberal arts colleges for academic quality, engaged learning opportunities and career preparation, vibrant campus life, and value. The Hendrix College Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III sports. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. Learn more at hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement that links the classroom with the world, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, justice, and sustainable living, the Hendrix community inspires students to lead lives of accomplishment, integrity, service, and joy.” —Hendrix College Statement of Purpose