SMC Continues Free Literary Talks & Readings

SMC Continues Free Literary Talks & Readings Series Oct. 10

Fall 2024 Presenters: Filmmaker Kristy Andersen and Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Yosimar Reyes

SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica College (SMC) continues its free Literary Talks & Readings series this fall with filmmaker Kristy Andersen screening and discussing her documentary about Zora Neale Hurston on Oct. 10, and Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Yosimar Reyes talking about what inspires his poetry on Oct. 17.

All presentations in the series are free, and will be held on the SMC Main Campus (1900 Pico, Blvd., Santa Monica). Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis. Presentations are subject to change or cancellation without notice.

The fall 2024 Literary Talks & Readings series lineup is:

• Thursday, Oct. 10 at 11:15 a.m. in Art 214: Kristy Andersen: “Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun;Fifteen years later....” Filmmaker Kristy Andersen presents a screening and talk reflecting on “Jump at the Sun,” a film about novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. A maverick and a contrarian whose opinions cut against the grain, Hurstondied in poverty in 1960, just as the Black is Beautiful movement emerged and Afrocentric pride began to take hold. Today, she is revered, her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is required reading in high schools and colleges, and her work has taken on new dimensions as it is being looked at in a whole new light. Andersen, who wrote and produced the film and has worked extensively as a cinematographer, editor, writer, and producer, will lead an audience Q&A following the screening. Free. Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC English Department, SMC Art Department, and SMC Communication and Media Department.
• Thursday, Oct. 17 at 11:15 a.m. in Student Services Center, Orientation Hall (SSC 183): Yosimar Reyes: “Venimos A Triunfar” (“We Came to Be Triumphant”) — Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Yosimar Reyes will present an insightful talk about how his poetry is inspired by his community. His goal, as the first undocumented poet to reach this position, is to help people find poetry in their everyday lives. Reyeswas chosen to be a 2024 Creative Ambassador by the City of San Jose, The Advocate named him one of “13 LGBT Latinos Changing the World,” and Remezclaincluded him in “10 Up And Coming Latinx Poets You Need To Know.” Reyes has been awarded a NALAC Catalyst for Change Grant, a Gerbode Foundation Grant, and most recently, a Walter & Elise Haas Creative Work Fund Grant. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including “Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry”; “Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings”; and the forthcoming “UndocuPoetics.” Sponsored by the SMC Associates, Dream Resource Center, IDEAS at SMC, Student Equity Center, Ethnic Studies Program, Dream Program, The Latino Center/Adelante, Black Collegians/UMOJA, and EOPS/CARE.
  

  

For more than two decades, the SMC Literary Series has brought to the college’s campus such acclaimed writers as Khaled Hosseini (author of the bestselling “The Kite Runner”), Steph Cha (writer of the popular ‘Juniper Song’ novels), Audrey Niffenegger (author of the bestselling “Time Traveler’s Wife”), Edward J. Larson (author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion”), and Viet Thanh Nguyen (author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Sympathizer”).

Additional information is available by calling SMC’s Office of Public Programs at (310) 434-4100.

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