International writers visit campus, area schools; present panel discussion

The Etruscan Press and Youngstown State University Poetry Center Outreach Program host two international writers, Raul Hernandez from Cuba and D.M. Aderibigbe from Nigeria, Dec. 5 through 8.

The authors will meet and work with students at YSU, East and Chaney high schools in Youngstown, Youngstown Early College and Choffin Career Center, as well as community members at Park Vista Retirement Home.

They also will present a panel, open to the public, titled “International Conflict and the Arts” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6 in the English Department in DeBartolo Hall on the YSU campus.

Through the support of the Rayen Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Andrews Foundation, the Oristaglio Foundation, the Wean Foundation, and the Drs. Brothers and Murphy Fund, students will receive copies of the bi-lingual edition of Synergos: Selected Poems of Roberto Manzano, translated by YSU English professor Steven Reese and published by Etruscan Press, and 8 New Generation African Poets, curated by Kwame Dawes and published by Akashic Books.

Author of fourteen books of poetry, fiction and children’s literature, Hernández is one of the most important Cuban writers of his generation. He was director of the publishing house Unicornio and the magazine Habáname. He works as a news editor for Telemundo 51, one of the most important Hispanic television networks in South Florida.

Aderibigbe studied at the University of Lagos and received a master of Fine Arts degree from Boston University, where he received the Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship. His work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, the Colorado Review, the Notre Dame Review, and many other journals. His chapbook, In Praise of Our Absent Father, is included in 8 New Generation African Poets.

Since 2008, the YSU Poetry Center and Etruscan Outreach Program has brought 17 national and international writers and their books to thousands of students and community members in the Mahoning Valley.

“Our approach is to broaden horizons of students whose view is too often constricted,” said Philip Brady, YSU distinguished professor of English and executive director of Etruscan Press. “Rather than ‘No Child Left Behind,’ we say, ‘No One Left Out.’ We foster community, and we access the world’s imagination.”

For more information, visit www.etruscanpress.org or contact Brady at 330-941-1952.