Award-winning poet, actor, activist to visit Nov. 2

Carlos Andrés Gómez, an award winning poet, actor, speaker, and writer from New York City, will be visiting Cornell for a public performance sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program, at 5:30 p.m., Nov. 2, in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorum (132 Goldwin Smith Hall).

A former social worker and public school teacher, Gomez recently partnered with John Legend for “Senior Orientation,” a program to counteract bullying and support healthy ideas of masculinity among high school students. Gomez co-founded The Excelano Project at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, one of the country’s premier spoken word poetry groups. He was named the 2016 Best Diversity Artist by Campus Activities Magazine and Artist of the Year at the 2009 Promoting Outstanding Writers Awards.

As an actor, Gomez has starred in HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam,” TV’s “One’s Verses and Flow” and Spike Lee’s hit movie “Inside Man” with Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen. He is the author of the memoir “Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood” and numerous viral poems, including “Where are you really from?” and “What Latino Looks Like.” He received the 2015 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize and the 2015 Makeda Bilqis Literary Award for his poetry.

“Carlos’ poetry serves as an artistic blueprint for those seeking to effect change and work towards creating a more just society and world,” said Karen Jaime, assistant professor of performing and media arts and Latina/o Studies. “Carlos’ upcoming visit and work will engage students across the Cornell community, especially during this current politically charged moment.”

Gomez has lectured and performed at more than 500 colleges and universities, facilitated countless workshops and delivered keynote speeches and commencement addresses in 45 U.S. states and 25 countries. His work has appeared in the North American Review, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and Timeout New York, among many others. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA) and the Jerome Foundation.

Along with the Latina/o Studies Program, the performance is made possible with support from the Society for the Humanities, departments of Performing and Media Arts, Romance Studies, History of Art & Visual Studies, and Comparative Literature and the American Studies Program.

Spencer DeRoos is a communications assistant for the College of Arts & Sciences.