
Join the Office of DEI for lunch on Tuesday, March 13th from 12 pm – 1:30 pm in Blau Colloquium as we continue our series of programming focusing on Mental Health and Wellness within the Ross community. Colombian American poet Carlos Andrés Gómez, star of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and Spike Lee’s #1 box office movie Inside Man with Denzel Washington, will perform his original work using storytelling and slam poetry to enhance our community’s understanding of cultural experiences around mental health and wellness. The program will include a moderated Q&A portion to engage audience members and provide additional opportunities to share and uplift community voices.
Carlos Andrés Gómez is the author of Hijito, for which he was awarded the Foreword INDIES Gold Medal and the International Book Award 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 winner and 19th U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry.
Hailing from New York City, Gómez has performed at more than 1,000 colleges, universities, independent schools, and companies in 47 U.S. states and headlined shows in 27 countries across six continents. He has been featured on NPR, PBS, 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, Carlos 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 Café’s slam team. In 2008, he collaborated with Tony Award-winning tap dance legend Savion Glover on Broadway. Gómez is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
“Carlos was by far the most engaging and inspiring poet I have ever seen.” —Drew Donica, Lawrence University
Upcoming Ross Wellness Event:
Raising the Voices: Storytelling and Slam Poetry
March 12, 12 – 1:30 pm
Blau Colloquium
LUNCH PROVIDED
REGISTER BY MARCH 10 Raising the Voices Final