MEDIA ADVISORY: MU Symposium to Focus on Georgina Herrera, Noted Cuban Writer

April 29th, 2011

WHAT: A symposium at the University of Missouri will bring international literary experts together to discuss the impact and writing of Georgina Herrera, a leading Afro-Cuban writer. Herrera and others were part of Cuba’s core of black women writers, who in the 1960s became prominent members of Havana’s Black Renaissance, a movement similar to the Harlem Renaissance in the United States.

Juanamaría Cordones-Cook, professor of Spanish in the College of Arts and Science, will premiere a documentary she directed and produced about Herrera.

“Ms. Herrera is an influential figure in Afro-Hispanic literature, and I am honored to share my film with this group of experts.” Cordones-Cook said.

Herrera has published more than 30 plays. One play, Roots of my Heart, was adapted to film and recently screened at MU. Her poems focus on her roots in Africa, as well as on the loneliness of her youth, extreme poverty, the emotions of motherhood, the experience of love and the despair spurred by the death of her mother when she was a child.

WHO: International literary experts

WHERE &

WHEN: Friday, April 29

• Morning session
  • 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
  • Legends Room, Mizzou Recreation Complex, MU campus
  • Enter through the west doors. The complex is located at the corner of Hitt Street between Rollins Street and Hospital Drive.
• Afternoon session
  • 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
  • Multipurpose Room, Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, MU Campus
  • Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center is located at 813 Virginia Avenue.

NOTE: Media wishing to attend the morning session should email Emily Bach

(BachE@missouri.edu) to obtain media credentials. This event is free and open to the

public.