In conjunction with the exhibition, The Voice That Reaches You,
Kansas City's Latino Writers Collective is pleased to present
A Poetry Reading
Featuring Gloria Adams, Jason Biggers, Maria Vaquez Boyd, Xanath Caraza, Carlos Duarte, Jose Faus, and Chato Villalobos among others
Hosted by Eljay's River Market Coffee House
412 Delaware Street, Kansas City, MO
Friday, January 16, 6:30 - 7:30 pm
An Open House will follow the reading
at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary
218 Delaware Street, Suite 208
7:30 - 10:00 pm
The Latino Writers Collective is a Kansas City-based nonprofit dedicated to exposing local audiences to Latino writers in the Heartland. www.latinowriterscollective.org
Kansas City's Latino Writers Collective is pleased to present
A Poetry Reading
Featuring Gloria Adams, Jason Biggers, Maria Vaquez Boyd, Xanath Caraza, Carlos Duarte, Jose Faus, and Chato Villalobos among others
Hosted by Eljay's River Market Coffee House
412 Delaware Street, Kansas City, MO
Friday, January 16, 6:30 - 7:30 pm
An Open House will follow the reading
at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary
218 Delaware Street, Suite 208
7:30 - 10:00 pm
The Latino Writers Collective is a Kansas City-based nonprofit dedicated to exposing local audiences to Latino writers in the Heartland. www.latinowriterscollective.org
Photos from poetry reading
Gloria Martinez Adams was born in New Mexico and raised in Arizona. She has worked for several not-for-profit organizations for over 20 years, including the Kansas City Symphony and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Currently, she is an Events & Community Relations Coordinator for Johnson County Nursing Center. Her work has appeared in The Mind’s Eye; Leaves of Green; Kansas City Hispanic News, Present Magazine, AQUI Magazine and has been heard over KC Currents on NPR. She is a founding member of the Latino Writers Collective and her work appears in Primera Pagina: Poetry from the Latino Heartland. “For years, I thought I was the only Latina in Johnson County; it was a good place to raise my family and my lifestyle was comfortable, so it was easy for me to disregard my first language and my roots. Later I began to want to understand the segregation in my early life and the causes of racial tension, then and now, so writing in a Latino voice came alive out of necessity,” she claims.
Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet, and short story writer. She has a Certificate for Overseas Teachers of English from the University of Cambridge, UK. Having attended graduate school at the School for International Training, she spent three years in Vermont. She also received an MA in Romance Languages from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Furthermore, she has published her original work and essays in El Cid, La revista estudiantil del Capítulo Tau Iota de Sigma Delta Pi, La Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica, and Utah Foreign Language Review, University of Utah. Present Magazine, an online publication, The Anthology Más allá de las Fronteras, Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, published an award-winning short story of her work in 2004. Her poetry is part of the anthology: Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland, 2008. She was a finalist in the short story contest John Barry Award 2008. She has published in Mexico in newspapers a number of times. She also presented at the 4th Annual Tierra Tinta Conference on Latin American, Spanish, and Luso-Brazilian Literatures in Oklahoma, at the X Congreso de Literatura Mexicana Contemporánea in El Paso, Texas, and the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of The Missouri Philological Association.
Growing up in El Paso, Texas, Jason Biggers began crossing borders early. Crossing back and forth between Mexico and the United States, and being Mexican-American himself, Jason learned that sometimes borders can be fixed and severe, but oftentimes they are blurry or even non-existent. Jason’s cultural hybridity has played out throughout his life as he has spent time living with people of different classes and cultures in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Germany and the Philippines. The cultures that Jason experienced in these countries, as well as the theme of blurring borders can be found in Jason’s art, poetry and music which is heavily influenced by graffiti, pop art, Mexican folk art and political comics. Jason uses different mediums of expression, working in commercial art, graphic design, illustration, poetry and music.
Maria Vazquez 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 and 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.
Jose Faus was born in Bogota, Colombia and has been a long time resident of Kansas City. He received degrees in art and writing from UMKC. Jose is an artist/muralist and maintains Carido Studio. He is editor of Kansas City Hispanic News and founding member of the Latino Writers Collective.
Chato Villalobos was born in Los Angeles, California, but has lived in Kansas City, Missouri, most of his life. Chato is 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 folkloric dancer with El Grupo Atotonilco. A Kansas City, Missouri police officer, Chato's current loves are writing poetry and youth advocacy.
Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet, and short story writer. She has a Certificate for Overseas Teachers of English from the University of Cambridge, UK. Having attended graduate school at the School for International Training, she spent three years in Vermont. She also received an MA in Romance Languages from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Furthermore, she has published her original work and essays in El Cid, La revista estudiantil del Capítulo Tau Iota de Sigma Delta Pi, La Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica, and Utah Foreign Language Review, University of Utah. Present Magazine, an online publication, The Anthology Más allá de las Fronteras, Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, published an award-winning short story of her work in 2004. Her poetry is part of the anthology: Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland, 2008. She was a finalist in the short story contest John Barry Award 2008. She has published in Mexico in newspapers a number of times. She also presented at the 4th Annual Tierra Tinta Conference on Latin American, Spanish, and Luso-Brazilian Literatures in Oklahoma, at the X Congreso de Literatura Mexicana Contemporánea in El Paso, Texas, and the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of The Missouri Philological Association.
Growing up in El Paso, Texas, Jason Biggers began crossing borders early. Crossing back and forth between Mexico and the United States, and being Mexican-American himself, Jason learned that sometimes borders can be fixed and severe, but oftentimes they are blurry or even non-existent. Jason’s cultural hybridity has played out throughout his life as he has spent time living with people of different classes and cultures in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Germany and the Philippines. The cultures that Jason experienced in these countries, as well as the theme of blurring borders can be found in Jason’s art, poetry and music which is heavily influenced by graffiti, pop art, Mexican folk art and political comics. Jason uses different mediums of expression, working in commercial art, graphic design, illustration, poetry and music.
Maria Vazquez 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 and 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.
Jose Faus was born in Bogota, Colombia and has been a long time resident of Kansas City. He received degrees in art and writing from UMKC. Jose is an artist/muralist and maintains Carido Studio. He is editor of Kansas City Hispanic News and founding member of the Latino Writers Collective.
Chato Villalobos was born in Los Angeles, California, but has lived in Kansas City, Missouri, most of his life. Chato is 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 folkloric dancer with El Grupo Atotonilco. A Kansas City, Missouri police officer, Chato's current loves are writing poetry and youth advocacy.
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