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- RESCHEDULED: UCSB Arts & Lectures presents An Evening with Martín Espada
- NEW DATE Wed, Apr 29 | 7:30 p.m. | UCSB Campbell Hall
- Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry for Floaters, and the only Puerto Rican winner since William Carlos Williams, Martín Espada is one of America’s most impassioned and urgent advocates
- Espada writes with clarity about inequality, labor and migration, honoring the dignity of working people, especially in his own Puerto Rican community
- Join us for an evening of readings and commentary by one of America’s most vital literary voices, whose words transform resistance and compassion into unforgettable art
- $20 General Public / FREE for UCSB students (Current student ID required)
- Tickets & Info: http://www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535
Editors/Reviewers: Please include the full name of UCSB Arts & Lectures in all media coverage, including reviews.
“Martín Espada is a captivating storyteller and memoirist. His great subject is the drama
of the Puerto Rican diaspora; his method is meticulously crafted portraiture of lives that
intertwine with history, among them his own, radiantly defiant and fearless. One of our
most important contemporary poets.” – Joyce Carol Oates
Santa Barbara, CA – UCSB Arts & Lectures presents An Evening with Martín Espada RESCHGEDULED on a NEW DATE, Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall. Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry for Floaters, and the only Puerto Rican winner since William Carlos Williams, Martín Espada is one of America’s most impassioned and urgent advocates. He writes with clarity about inequality, labor and migration, honoring the dignity of working people, especially in his own Puerto Rican community. His most recent collection, Jailbreak of Sparrows, confronts injustice with unflinching power and reaffirms poetry’s ability to bear witness. A former tenant lawyer with Su Clínica Legal in Greater Boston, Espada continues to bring the struggles and resilience of working people to the page. Join us for an evening of readings and commentary by one of America’s most vital literary voices, whose words transform resistance and compassion into unforgettable art.
Ticket holders with questions contact the Ticket Office at (805) 893-3535 or info@artsandlectures.ucsb.edu, Monday-Friday, 10 AM-5 PM.
ABOUT MARTÍN ESPADA
Martín Espada has published more than 20 books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator. His new book of poems is called Jailbreak of Sparrows. His previous book, Floaters, won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2021. Other poetry collections include Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016), The Trouble Ball (2011), The Republic of Poetry (2006), Alabanza (2003) and Imagine the Angels of Bread (1996). He is the editor of What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (2019).
Espada has received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the PEN/Revson Fellowship, a Letras Boricuas Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The title poem of his collection Alabanza, about 9/11, has been widely anthologized and performed. His book of essays and poems, Zapata’s Disciple (1998), was banned in Tucson as part of the Mexican-American Studies Program outlawed by the state of Arizona. A former tenant lawyer with Su Clínica Legal in Greater Boston, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
The 2025-2026 season marks UCSB Arts & Lectures’ 66th year of bringing unique, world-class performances, films and lectures to Central Coast and campus audiences. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” Arts & Lectures is the largest performing arts and public lectures presenter between San Francisco and Los Angeles, beloved by audiences for its award-winning, diverse and innovative programming that deeply enriches lives and extends the intellectual life of the community beyond the classroom. Arts & Lectures’ award-winning Access for ALL educational outreach programs provide rare opportunities for students to meet and learn from visiting artists and speakers. In the 2025-26 season, most of the speakers and performers will participate in master classes, lecture-demonstrations, open rehearsals and classroom discussions at UCSB and in the community.
An Evening with Martín Espada is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Co-presented with the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life; and the UCSB Department of Religious Studies.
Justice for All Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Eva & Yoel Haller, Dick Wolf and Zegar Family Foundation
Tickets are $20 General Public / FREE for UCSB students (Current student ID required)
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or purchase online at http://www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu
