MOUNT VERNON – Acclaimed poet Sara Borjas will visit Knox County on Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m. as part of the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County’s NEA Big Read program.
Writers of all ages and interests are invited to the Brown Family Environmental Center for “An Afternoon With Sara Borjas,” which will include a reading of Borjas’ work and the opportunity for local poets to participate in a generative poetry writing workshop that explores what Borjas describes as “the power of imagination in poetry.”
Borjas said, “I’m excited to come to Ohio to learn from people, connect with community members and see what people are writing about. Being a regional poet, place is incredibly central to who I am as a writer. … I am eager to discover how places make people who they are.”
Borjas’ poetry collection, "Heart Like A Window, Mouth Like a Cliff," “is a transgressive, yet surprisingly tender confrontation of what it means to want to flee the thing you need most,” Noemi Press said. The main library in Mount Vernon is giving away a limited number of Borjas’ book as part of its NEA Big Read program, and patrons are encouraged to stop by while supplies last.
“Sara’s writing is bold, vivid and powerful. … Her poems made her a dream choice for our NEA Big Read Program,” said Library Development and Writing Program Manager Jamie Lyn Smith-Fletcher. “She is also hilarious, welcoming and down to earth. … It is wonderful to see someone so accomplished remain so approachable and invested in helping emerging poets.”
Borjas earned a B.A. in English literature from Fresno State and an M.F.A from University of California, Riverside. She holds fellowships from CantoMundo, the Postgraduate Writers’ Conference at Vermont College of Fine Arts and Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. Borjas is the recipient of the 2014 Blue Mesa Poetry Prize and is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poetry can be found in The Rumpus, the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day Series, Ploughshares and The Offing, among others. She lives in Los Angeles but stays rooted in Fresno.
Borjas' visit is part of the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County’s NEA Big Read celebration of Sandra Cisneros’ novel "The House on Mango Street." Ongoing NEA Big Read activities include “Storytime with Miss Morgan,” “Mango Street in the MakerSpace” craft bag giveaway and book giveaways of Cisneros’ "My Wicked, Wicked Ways," which is the topic of the Library’s April 14 adult book discussion. The library’s ongoing NEA book giveaway of Sandra Cisneros’ "The House on Mango Street" continues at all PLMVKC locations. A full listing of additional NEA Big Read program events is available at www.knox.net/nea-big-read.html.
As with all library programs, the NEA Big Read events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. To protect vulnerable community members and prevent the spread of COVID-19, all workshop attendees are required to wear a well-fitting mask that covers the nose and mouth. To sign up for a workshop spot, email knoxwrites1@gmail.com or call 740-392-2665, Ext 259.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. For more information about the NEA Big Read, including book and author information, podcasts and videos, visit arts.gov/neabigread.
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