International book award-winning author to visit Skagit Valley College

Colombian American poet Carlos Andrés Gómez, star of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and Spike Lee’s number one box office movie “Inside Man” with Denzel Washington, will perform his original work on April 17 at 12:45 p.m. in McIntyre Hall. The event is free and open to the public. 

Gómez is the author of “Hijito,” for which he was awarded the Foreword INDIES Gold Medal and the International Book Award in 2020, and the coming-of-age memoir “Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood,” released by Penguin Random House in 2012. 

His most recent book, “Fractures,” was selected by Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry. 

Hailing from New York City, Gómez has performed at more than 1,000 colleges, universities, independent schools, and companies in 47 U.S. states and headlined shows in 27 countries across six continents. He has been featured on NPR, PBS, TEDx, Upworthy, Central Park SummerStage, and partnered with John Legend for Senior Orientation, a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students. 

A former social worker and public-school teacher, Gómez first made a name for himself by winning at the Apollo Theater’s celebrated Amateur Night and later as a member of the renowned Nuyorican Poets Café’s slam team. In 2008, he collaborated with Tony Award-winning tap dance legend Savion Glover on Broadway.  

Gómez received a bachelor of arts in history at the University of Pennsylvania and a master of fine arts in creative writing at Warren Wilson College. 

“Carlos Andres Gomez has carved out spaces in industries that have historically excluded people of color,” said Alondra Batista, Cardinal Achievement Program coach at SVC’s Office of Equity and Inclusion. “Our hope is that providing this space for men of color enables them to share perspectives that may be entirely new to them.”  

Those who identify as male, masculine, transmasculine, and/or non-binary are highly encouraged to attend; however, everyone is welcome. Sign up at https://shorturl.at/agHL3. 

For more information on the author, visit www.CarlosLive.com.