Human Rights in Latin America

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. Oct. 31, 2003 — Marjorie Agosin, professor of Spanish from Wellesley College, will give two talks at Williams as part of the Latino Heritage Month.

On Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Griffin Hall, room 3, she will discuss “At the Threshold of Memory: Human Rights in Latin America” will be given. She will speak again at a lunch forum on Thursday, Nov. 6, at noon at the Jewish Religious Center on “A Cross and a Star: Jewish Women Writers in Latin America.”

Poet and human rights activist, Agosin will read from her work as well as speak about the ways in which human rights have defined both the arts and our political and social identities in the 20th and 21st centuries. Her talk will focus on the transformations brought about by human rights movements within the new democracies of Latin America.

Agosin’s work includes several collections of poetry, literary criticism, and a memoir about her mother growing up as a Jewish girl in Chile. Some of her poetry works include, “The Angel of Memory,” “Desert Rain/Lluvia en el desierto,” “An the Absence of Shadows,” “Las chicas desobediantes,” and “Dear Anne Frank.” “A Cross and a Star: Memoirs of a Jewish Girl in Chile” is Agosin’s memoir written about her mother’s experiences and has been highly celebrated.

Agosin has served as Distinguished Visiting Artist at the University of Georgia and taught at Barnard College and Babson College. Agosin is the winner of the 1995 Letras de Oro Award, the Latino Literature Prize and the Good Neighbor Award.

Agosin received her B.A. from The University of Georgia in Philosophy and Spanish Literature. She also received her M.A. from Indiana University in Spanish and her Ph.D. in Spanish-American Literature from Indiana University.

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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Public Affairs (413) 597-4279. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/home/campusmap/

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Published November 5, 2003