An Afternoon with Jimmy Santiago Baca

Jimmy Santiago Baca
Photo courtesy JimmySantiagoBaca.com

Presented by The University of Arizona’s Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry & College of Education

Thu, Nov 6
1 p.m.-4 p.m. Free
UA Student Union, 1303 E University Blvd., Kiva Room, 2nd Floor
Confluencenter.arizona.edu

Poet and community activist Jimmy Santiago Baca – who was a runaway at 13, served a five-year maximum security prison sentence, where he learned to read, and emerged from lock-up in 1979 as a writer – comes to Tucson for a reading and a screening of the documentary based on his 2002 memoir “A Place to Stand,” with a Q&A to follow.

Lauded by the Associated Press for “his raw poetry and vivid essays that seek to capture the experience of Mexican-Americans and American Indians in the Southwest,” Baca has devoted his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship. His themes include American Southwest barrios, addiction, injustice, education, community, love and beyond. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries and universities throughout the country. Baca is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and, for his memoir “A Place to Stand,” the prestigious International Award.

In 2005 he created Cedar Tree Inc., a nonprofit foundation that works to give people of all walks of life the opportunity to become educated and improve their lives. In 2006, Baca was awarded the Cornelius P. Turner Award, which honors GED graduates who have made “outstanding contributions” in areas such as education, justice and social welfare.

More information is available at Confluencenter.arizona.edu and JimmySantiagoBaca.com. Capacity at the Kiva Room is limited to 100 people, with entrance on a first-come, first-serve basis. Paid parking is available at the 2nd Street Parking Garage on 2nd Street and Mountain Avenue.

Category: Arts, Community, DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE, Events, Film