Famed Cuban Poet to Present Poetry Recital at TAMIU Monday

Texas A&M International University will welcome one of the most important poets of Hispanic letters, José Kozer, to its campus Monday, November 14 as the University opens a large collection exhibit of the poet’s books in the Special Collections section of the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library.

Kozer will present a bilingual poetry recital from 3-4 p.m. in Student Center, room 231. A roundtable with the poet will follow from 4:15 – 5:45 p.m., also in SC 231.  A reception will then be held at 6 p.m. in the Helen Richter Watson Gallery and at 6:15 p.m., TAMIU President Dr. Ray Keck will present the Collection exhibit opening in Killam Library 102.

All events are free and open to the public.

The Killam Library has acquired more than 600 autographed books written by important Latin American poets and authors from Kozer’s personal library.

Dr. José Cardona López, associate professor of Spanish at TAMIU, said the new acquisition is of great significance to the University.

“The acquisition of this Kozer Collection will serve to help TAMIU attract scholars, readers and people of the South Texas region and nation who are interested in Latin American poetry,” Dr. Cardona-López said.

Kozer was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1940 to Jewish parents who immigrated to Cuba from Poland and Czechoslovakia. After studying law at the University of Havana he left Cuba in 1960.

In 1965, he received a BA from New York University. For many years, he taught Spanish and Spanish American literature at Queens College of the City University of New York, and retired as a Full Professor in 1997.

 He is a prolific writer of poems, and his more than 50 books have been published in Cuba, Spain, the Dominican Republic, México, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Switzerland, and the United States.  His work has been partially translated into English, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Greek, and Hebrew. 

Titles of books he has written include: Este judío de números y letras (1975), Jarrón de las abreviaturas (1980), Et mutabile (1995), Dípticos (1998), Rupestres (2001), No buscan reflejarse (2002),  Stet (Spanish/ English, 2006), Trazas (2007), Anima (Spanish/ English, 2011).

In conjunction with Jacobo Sefamí and Roberto Echavarren, he co-edited in 1996 Medusario muestra de poesía latinoamericana, a capital reference work about Latin American poetry.

For more information, please contact Cardona-López at 326.2690, e-mail cardona@tamiu.edu or visit offices located in the Anthony J. and Georgia A. Pellegrino Hall, room 314F. Additional information can also be found on tamiu.edu, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

University office hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu