Image credit: [LEFT] COVER OF CITY OF GOD (1994) [RIGHT] LAURA AGUILAR, GIL CUADROS, 1993, GELATIN SILVER PRINT, 12 X 8 1/2 INCHES. COURTESY OF THE LAURA AGUILAR TRUST OF 2016.
Join a distinguished panel of writers, educators, and cultural workers as they reflect on the literary legacy of Gil Cuadros (1962-1996) and the 25th anniversary of his book City of God (1994). Copies of the book will be available for purchase. Reception to follow the discussion.
ABOUT THE BOOK
City of God (1994) is a collection of short stories and poems by artist and writer Gil Cuadros. Publishers Weekly praised the book as one of the first of its kind to give voice to queer Chicanos and those within the community living with HIV/AIDS.
PARTICIPANT BIOS
Kevin Martin is a professional writer living in Los Angeles. His creative work has appeared in the anthologies Men on Men and Blood Whispers, and in the Kenyon College alumni magazine. He is the executor of the Estate of Gil Cuadros.
Rafael Pérez-Torres, a Professor of English at UCLA, writes on Latinx literature and culture, gender and sexuality studies, globalization, and hemispheric studies. He is the author of several books on race, identity, poetry, and culture, and co-editor of The Chicano Studies Reader: An Anthology of Aztlán 1970-2020, forthcoming.
Amy Scholder, editor, has been publishing groundbreaking literary books for many years. Some of her authors include Sapphire, June Jordan, Karen Finley, David Wojnarowicz, Kathy Acker, Ana Castillo, Justin Vivian Bond, and Gil Cuadros. She serves as board president of Lambda Literary and is producing the documentary feature Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen.
Justin Torres has published short fiction in The New Yorker, Tin House, and other publications. Justin's novel We the Animals has been translated into fifteen languages and was recently adapted into a film. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards.
Pablo Alvarez is a first-generation Chicanx from Pico Rivera, California. He holds a BA in English and Human Development from Cal State Long Beach and an MA in Chicana/o Studies from Cal State Northridge. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Studies at the Claremont Graduate University. His essay “Gil Cuadros’s ‘AZT-Land’: Documenting a Queer Chicano Literary Heritage” appears in Queer In Aztlán: Chicano Male Recollections of Consciousness and Coming Out.
The event is co-presented by The Estate of Gil Cuadros, City Light Publishers, and Writers At Work as part of a two-event series celebrating the life and legacy of Gil Cuadros. Learn more here: https://wtrsatwork.wixsite.com/cityofgod25