January 23, 2015, Friday - Mentor Series Reading: Diego Vázquez Jr. at The Loft

Time: 7:00pm

Location: The Loft Literary Center, at Open Book (Performance Hall), 1011 Washington Ave

Tonight: Mentor Series Reading: Diego Vázquez Jr.

The 2014–15 Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose presents fiction mentor Diego Vázquez Jr. reading along with program participants Rebecca Diaz (fiction) and Timothy Otte (poetry).

Diego Vázquez Jr. is a poet, novelist, storyteller. He comes from indigenous migrants who crossed invisible lines to become immigrants under a common sky. He has never met an illegal human. Vázquez is grateful for his ongoing participation in The Women’s Writing Program at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility and the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River. This remarkable experience allows him new insights into the strength and joy of the human heart. Vázquez is the author of Growing Through the Ugly. He is completing work on a forthcoming novel, Border Town Sky.

Rebecca Diaz graduated from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University with her BA in Writing & Literature. She is a homegrown artist, enchanted and inspired by the landscape, culture and psyche of her rural Minnesota hometown of Crookston. Growing up with Christian Fundamentalists and her love for the Red Lake River taught her almost everything she needs to know about life and writing. She is a poet turned fiction writer, looking into the tributaries of language, healing, and religious addiction. Rebecca has been published in S(y)mposium, BASE: Building Alliances for Social Engagement, Flaneur Foundry Arts Journal, fre-quen-cy: the poethics of change, Monkey Puzzle Magazine, Stays Magazine, and others. She lives in Minneapolis with her dog, and is courting the Mississippi River.

Timothy Otte writes text for page and performance. His work has appeared online at Paper Darts and at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. He is Senior Editorial Associate at Hazel & Wren, an online literary community. He is from and lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, but keeps a home on the internet at http://www.timothyotte.com/.