Cindy Williams Gutierrez and Jessica Mehta – reading and Q&A

The Voice of Empathy continues at thetinytheaterPDX, 3306 SE 65th Ave, Portland, OR. Please spread out the parking around the neighborhood to avoid congestion.

The series showcases poets whose work investigates the human capacity for compassion and generosity and invites the reader/listener to care deeply for others and the world. This description is for the poets’ reference only and does not presume to impose any constraints on the work selected for presentation.

There is room for 37-39 poetry lovers. Please come a few minutes in advance to reserve your seats. In case of snow, please monitor this event for possible rescheduling.

Poet-dramatist Cindy Williams Gutiérrez is inspired by the silent and silenced voices of history and herstory. Her new poetry collection, Inlay with Nacre: The Names of Forgotten Women, was awarded a 2016 Oregon Literary Fellowship and the 2018 Willow Books Editor’s Choice Poetry Selection. She was selected by Poets & Writers Magazine as a 2014 Notable Debut Poet for the small claim of bones (Bilingual Press), which placed second in the 2015 International Latino Book Awards. Cindy received the 2017 Oregon Book Award for Drama for Words That Burn. She is cofounder of Los Porteños, Portland’s Latino writers’ collective, and founder of El Grupo de ’08, a Northwest collaborative-artists’ salon.

Jessica (Tyner) Mehta is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, multi-award-winning poet, and author of over one dozen books. Place, space, and personal ancestry inform much of her work. She’s also the Editor-in-Chief of Crab Creek Review and owner of an award-winning small business. MehtaFor is a writing services company that offers pro bono services to Native Americans and indigenous-serving non-profits. Jessica integrates technology, archival photos, and performance art into many of her creative projects. “Red/Act” is a pop-up virtual reality poetry experience made with proprietary software. It aims to introduce more people to poetry, and specifically indigenous poetry, through a uniquely immersive encounter. Her “emBODY poetry” performance series features experimental poetry on nude form while incorporating shibari rope work to address topics on body image and eating disorders. Her novel The Wrong Kind of Indian won gold at the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) and at the American Book Fest Best Book. Jessica has also received numerous fellowships in recent years, including the Everett Helm Visiting Fellowship at the Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington and the Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship at The British Library in London. Jessica is a popular speaker and panelist, featured recently at events such as the US State Department’s National Poetry Month event, “Poets as Cultural Emissaries: A Conversation with Women Writers,” as well as the “Women’s Transatlantic Prison Activism Since 1960” symposium at Oxford University. Learn more at www.jessicamehta.com or find Jessica on Twitter and Instagram @bookscatsyoga.