Xavier. Contributed photo.
Spoken-word artist and poet Emanuel Xavier will visit Amity Regional High School on April 8 to speak to students in English language arts classes.
Xavier has published several collections of poetry, including Pier Queen, Americano, Nefarious, Radiance, and Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier, as well as the novel Christ Like. He also edited and contributed to the poetry collection Me No Habla with Acento. He has been honored for his community activism on behalf of gay and homeless youth, and his writing has garnered praise and awards from several organizations. Two of his books were named to the American Library Association’s “Over the Rainbow” book list.
According to a press release from the school, Xavier’s poetry can be transgressive, gritty and streetwise, yet remains lyrical, expressing both the pain of emotional and physical violence, as well as a hopefulness that life can still be beautiful. As writer and teacher Rigoberto Gonzalez observed in his forward to Pier Queen, Xavier has “claimed his troubled past and crafted it into…art.”
The event will be hosted by Amity librarians Robert Musco and Victoria Hulse and is made possible by the Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation. The event is not open to the public.