Espido Freire and Giannina Braschi
Espido Freire and Giannina Braschi
Friday, November 15th, 2024
6:00pm to 8:30pm
Instituto Cervantes Presents
Literary Luminaries Giannina Braschi and Espido Freire
Closing Night Program of the
International Multilingual Creative Writing Conference
Instituto Cervantes
211 East 49th Street in NYC
SPECIAL EVENT:
Dramatic Readings + Lively Discussion + Champagne Toast
“Giannina Braschi + Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé: New Noises, New Values, New Genres”
“Espido Freier: Anacer o Hacerse: 25 Anos de Creación Literaria en España”
About the Conference
The International Multilingual Creative Writing Conference (November 13-15th 2024) is a public platform to celebrate the rich diversity of human experience across cultures and a unique opportunity to foster intercultural collaboration with writers, editors, educators, media outlets, and publishers. Headlining talent includes literary luminaries such as Carmen Boullosa (Mexico), Giannina Braschi (Puerto Rico/USA), Norma Elia Cantú (USA), Alvaro Enrique (Mexico), Espido Freire (Spain), and Lila Zemborain (Argentina), among other poets, philosophers, novelists, playwrights, essayists, and scholars.
There will be panels on Multilingual poetry in English, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic, and
Bios of Espido Freire and Giannina Braschi and Arnaldo Cruz Malave.
Giannina Braschi (Puerto Rico/USA) is “one of the most revolutionary voices in Latin America today,” according to PEN America. The US Library of Congress calls her work “cutting-edge, influential, and even revolutionary.” She writes mixed-genre literature and political philosophy in Spanish, Spanglish, and English. Her iconic titles include El imperio de los sueños, Yo-Yo Boing!, and United States of Banana. Her opus magnus Putinoika (just published this fall 2024) tackles the frenzy and plague of the Trump and Putin era. With a Ph.D. from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, Braschi has published on Cervantes, Garcilaso, Machado, Lorca, and Bécquer. Her poetry has been widely translated, adapted, and applied to other genres, spanning theater, chamber music, graphic novel, photography, industrial design, urban planning, and fashion. She won the 2024 Angela Y. Davis Award from the American Studies Association for her extraordinary achievements as a public intellectual working for the public good.
Celebrated Spanish novelist Espido Freire (Bilbao, Spain) won the Premio Ateneo de Sevilla for Soria Mori and the Premio Planeta for Melocotones helados. Her other titles include Irlanda, Donde siempre es octubre, Nos espera la noche. Her novels have been translated into several languages, including French, German, Turkish, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese. English translations of her fiction have appeared in literary journals, such as The Dirty Goat, Fairy Tale Review, Gargoyle, Metamorphoses, and Words Without Borders. Freire dedicated her early years to the study and performance of classical music. She received a degree in English philology from the University of Deusto and has taught at several universities. In addition to being a popular author and passionate educator, Freire is an actress, known for roles in Madre, Likes and La tarda. Her podcast Orgullos y Prejuicios has been hailed one of the top 100 podcasts in the history of Spanish podcasting.
Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé, Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Fordham University, serves as the Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Institute. His areas of expertise encompass a broad spectrum of interests, with a primary focus on Hispanic Caribbean Literature, New York in Latino Literature, Gender and Sexuality in Latin American, and U.S. Latin Literatures. His books include El primitivo implorante and Queer Latino Testimonio, Keith Haring and Juanito Xtravaganza: Hard Tails. He has published groundbreaking essays on Giannina Braschi, Lezama Lima, Manuel Ramos Otero, Piri Thomas, and others. He recently edited a short story collection by Manuel Ramos Oteros entitled “Cuentos ‘Completos’”.
The conference is sponsored by the City College of New York—Division of Interdisciplinary Studies, The Americas Poetry Festival of New York, and the University of La Rioja.
Tags: Espido Freire, Giannina Braschi, Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé