MARCH 5, 2009 (MIAMI) – The Aesthetics & Values class of the Honors College at Florida International University (FIU) is pleased to host a poetry reading by critically acclaimed Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco. The reading will take place on Friday, March 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm in the Ryder Business Building (RB) 120 at the FIU University Park Campus.  This event is free and open to the public.

Richard Blanco is a Cuban-American poet, but this simple hyphenated phrase does little to capture the mixture of cultures that have informed and inspired his work. He was born in Madrid, Spain, of Cuban parents, who immigrated to the United States forty-five days after his birth.  He was raised in Miami and attended Florida International University, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering. He also received a Master’s in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at FIU under poet and FIU faculty member Campbell McGrath.

His first book of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires, explores the negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-American and was awarded the 1997 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. In 2005, he published his second book of poetry called Direction to the Beach of the Dead that follows Blanco in his travels and seeks to answer the questions “What is home? What is place?” Recently, Blanco collaborated with Honors College Fellow John Bailly to produce Place of Mind which mixed his published and unpublished poetry with Bailly’s artwork.

Florida International University’s University Park campus is located at 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, FL 33139.

For more information, please visit the A&V website at www.avexhibition.org or contact John Bailly at 305-348-0297.

About the Aesthetics and Values Class

The Aesthetics & Values Class from the Honors College at FIU is a yearlong course taught under the guidance of artist and professor, John Bailly. Now running in its fourth year, the seminar examines the vital role visual art plays in the social and cultural dialogue surrounding controversial issues. It investigates how artists have challenged or enforced authority by creating new aesthetics. Furthermore, it explores how art is used to initiate, accelerate, or combat social change.

Student-curators of A&V 2009 are Samantha Banal, Robert Cascella, Stella Concepción, Linda De La Paz, Noël Deckert, Marilyn Dominguez, Moises Enghelberg, Ernesto Fernández, Gisell Fiat, Monica Font, Adriano Froés, Gabriela García-Linares, Dahiana Gil, Thomas Johnson, Yesica Laver, Linda Lee, Alina Lenz, Michael Lopez, Jacqueline Lorenzo, Linda Martin, Priscila Mojica, Ana-Sofia Navarrete, Rozina Parbtani, Jairo Pava, Melissa Pita, Gaudry Puéchavy, Mariana Restrepo, Sergio Rioseco, Miryam Rodriguez, Ashley Rousseau, Nalisa Saati, Frances Sanchez, and Alejandro Stein.

For immediate release

CONTACT:    Juan Carlos Espinosa, The Honors College
(305-348-4100), espinosj@fiu.edu