Image‘s 14th Annual Denise Levertov Award
Richard Rodriguez
7:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 25
415 Westlake
Seattle, Washington
Hailed by the Washington Post as “one of the most eloquent and probing public intellectuals in America,” Richard Rodriguez in 1982 published Hunger of Memory, a widely read memoir that remains controversial today for its objections to affirmative action and bilingual education.
Rodriguez’s second book, Days of Obligation, on the moral landscapes of Mexico and the United States, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Brown, Rodriguez’s book on racial mixing—the paradox of being brown in black-and-white America—was nominated for a National Book Critics award. His most recent book, Darling, explores the significance of desert landscapes in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
In 1992, the federal government honored Rodriquez’s work with the Frankel Prize (the award now renamed the National Humanities Medal). At present Rodriguez is writing a book on why beauty matters.