Federico García Lorca Lives Again (Tonight!)

Federico García Lorca is my favorite Spanish poet.  I admit the tales of his abduction and murder at the hands of the Nationalists and the rumors of his affair with Salvador Dalí were what first drew my attention to him.  But the excellence of his poetry and plays kept my attention drawn.  I first learned about Lorca in one of Helen Shepard's Spanish classes at Lorain County Community College in the late 1980s.  Helen's courses were so interesting (they focused on the food/art/music/culture as much as the language), I ended up taking six of them - as many as the college offered at the time.

She's retired from LCCC now.  But tonight, Helen (who you may know as Elena, the Spanish version of her name) will be giving what promises to be a fascinating presentation about Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Cafe Bellas Artes.  Here's more information (swiped from the CMA website):

Friday, February 13, 2009
6:30pm -8:30pm Lite Refreshments & Cash Bar

"Federico García Lorca, His Poetry and Music"

This will be a bilingual presentation with poems read both in Spanish and in English translations.  Program is being presented by Helen A. Shepard.

Helen A. Shepard is a retired Associate Professor of Spanish, LCCC. She is a graduate of Penn State with a B. A. and M.A from Oberlin College.

Helen has lived in Spain at various times during her career. "I have known many writers, poets and professors during my years living in Spain and am a very close friend to Ian Gibson who wrote many books about Spain. This friendship has been very formative for me in my knowledge of Lorca and his environment when I lived in Granada during summers with the Oberlin College program."

Posted by Jesus Crisis at 2/13/2009 9:30 AM
Categories: Cleveland, Poetry Events

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  • 2/13/2009 10:34 AM joy wrote:
    break a leg helen, I'll be rooting for you in spirit.
    Reply to this
    1. 2/13/2009 1:46 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Thanks for your comment, Joy!

      I'd like to add that I've just added Lorca's sonnet The Poet Tells the Truth to the Crisis Chronicles Online Library to commemorate the occasion.  Not all poets do - but Lorca did.
      Reply to this
  • 2/13/2009 2:33 PM Elena wrote:
    Thank you John for the wonderful blog on my presentation tonight. It is going to be multimedia with poetry readings, music and slides. And you don't have to speak or understand much Spanish to appreciate the poetry since I am reading most of it in both Spanish and English translation.
    Reply to this
    1. 2/13/2009 3:22 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      You're welcome!  I hope you get a large turnout.

      Be aware that since this is the 2nd Friday of the month as well as Valentine's Day weekend, there are other poetry events going on around Cleveland.  But some of those are monthly/regular events, while yours is a totally unique presentation.
      Reply to this
      1. 2/14/2009 9:23 AM Elena wrote:
        While Marc controlled the music, a background for the poetry, and the slides to visualize the readings, it was over an hour of poetry and music. Nearly 40 people attended this by the time it was over and there were a lot of Spanish speaking there plus quite a few brought their kids. It was a raging success according to most. It took me over two weeks to coordinate everything and ended up going very smoothly. Thank God. There also was free food and a cash bar so everyone left pretty happy.
        Reply to this
        1. 2/18/2009 8:27 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
          Wish we coulda been there....  Friday was just a bad night for us to go anywhere.
          Reply to this
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