Massasoit Community College to Host Poet Martín Espada on April 28
Espada, winner of the 2021 National Book Award, to lead a poetry reading, Q&A, and book signing at the College’s Brockton Campus
BROCKTON, Mass (April 19, 2023) – Massasoit Community College will host award-winning poet Martín Espada for a poetry reading, question & answer session, and book signing at the College’s Buckley Performing Arts Center on April 28 in Brockton. The event is open to the public.
Espada, the winner of the 2021 National Book Award for his work Floaters, will be visiting Massasoit for the first time since 2020. A professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator, and his works have gained national attention, critical praise, and have won many awards. In 2018, the Poetry Foundation awarded him the 2018 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which honors a living US poet for outstanding lifetime achievement.
“I believe in community, and I believe in community college. In particular, I believe in poetry, in the humanities, and that community college students should have the same access to the humanities and to poetry as anybody else,” said Espada. “Brockton is the city of champions, from Rocky Marciano to Marvin Hagler. Maybe there is a champion poet waiting to emerge from Brockton, too. The last reading I did before the pandemic shut everything down in March 2020 was at Massasoit Community College. I look forward to my return.”
“We are excited to welcome Martín Espada back to Massasoit for an educational and community event that we hope will inspire the poet and artist in each of us,” said Ray DiPasquale, President of Massasoit Community College.
Espada was invited to campus by the College’s Department of English, with funding from the College’s SUCCESS program, as a part of its recognition of National Poetry Month. Throughout the month, students, faculty, and staff have engaged with poetry through poems hidden in equinox eggs around campus, contributing to a community poem on vintage typewriters, and other ways. Espada’s visit will give students and the community the chance to hear the work of a world-renowned poet in its purest form – the poet’s own voice.
Event Details
Martín Espada visits Massasoit
Poetry reading, Q&A, and book signing
Friday, April 28, 2023, 11 a.m.
Buckley Performing Arts Center Theater
1 Massasoit Blvd.
Brockton, MA 02302
Founded in 1966, Massasoit Community College offers students from southeastern Massachusetts and beyond access to more than 60 associate degree and certificate programs across arts, sciences, applied sciences, healthcare, and technology at locations in Brockton, Canton, Middleborough, and online. More than 900 students graduate with a degree or certificate each year from Massasoit, and 2,600 students annually enroll in non-credit community education or workforce development courses. Massasoit students are given access to wraparound services provided on campus to support their success inside and outside the classroom. For more information, visit massasoit.edu.