The Hastings College Department of Languages and Literatures will host Spanish poet, teacher, publisher and politician Juan Luis Calbarro for a public lecture on Wednesday, April 8.
The presentation, titled “A Biographical Approach to Writing Poetry in a Transient World,” will take place at 1:30 p.m. in the Wilson Center auditorium (814 N. Turner Avenue). The event is free and open to the public.
Calbarro, a high school literature teacher in Madrid, Spain, serves simultaneously as a literary critic, a publisher, the director of a literary magazine and an active figure in Spanish politics.
During his talk, Calbarro will explore how one balances the quiet discipline of a poet with the public noise of politics and the classroom.
From the lecture halls of a Spanish high school to the halls of government, and from the editor’s desk to the critic’s column, he’ll reveal how the “poetic lens” transforms the mundane into the extraordinary. He’ll share how a single voice harmonizes the many lives of a teacher, publisher, politician and critic, proving that in a world of fragmented identities, poetry remains the ultimate bridge.
In addition to the public lecture, Calbarro will spend time on campus working with students in Spanish courses. These sessions will provide students with a unique opportunity to engage with a native practitioner of the language who operates at the intersection of European arts and government.
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