An award-winning poet will be in Chautauqua County this week to perform his original work at Jamestown Community College. Colombian-American poet Carlos Andrés Gómez will be at JCC's North County Extension Center in Dunkirk on Tuesday at 12:20 PM in Room 117 of the Training Center. Gómez will then perform at JCC's Jamestown campus on Wednesday at 12:20 PM in the Student Union, with a reception and book signing to follow. Both events are free and open to the public.
Gómez is the author of Hijito, which was awarded the Foreword INDIES Gold Medal and the International Book Award for Poetry 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-winning former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry. Gómez has also appeared on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam" and the movie Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington.
Hailing from New York City, Go´mez has performed at more than 700 colleges and universities in 46 U.S. states and headlined shows in 26 countries across five continents. He has been featured on NPR, 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, Go´mez 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 Cafe´'s slam team.
