Author Visit: Mario Duarte
Schedule
Sat May 11 2024 at 12:00 pm
Location
401 19th Street, Rock Island, IL, United States, Illinois 61201 | Rock Island, IL
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Mario Duarte, author of forthcoming book My Father Called Us Monkeys and Iowa Writers' Workshop alum, will join us for a reading and Q+A in the Community Room at the Rock Island Public Library Downtown Branch.Inspired by real-life My Father Called Us Monkeys is a series of linked
short stories about Marco, a Mexican American boy coming of
age in a blue-collar and predominately white Midwestern town in
1969. His family consists of an older father, a railroad mechanic
who often unabashedly calls his children monkeys; a devoted
mother who works in a toy factory; a strong-willed, competitive
younger sister; an older, maternal sister about to graduate from
high school; and Marco, an inquisitive boy who grapples to
understand the adult world. In this collection, there are stories
about friendships and living with white neighbors, school days,
and interactions and conflicts with extended family. Some of
the stories are informed by the Vietnam War, the Apollo Space
Program, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Mario Duarte is a Mexican American poet and fiction writer
whose family has lived in the Midwest for over a century. He
grew up in Western Illinois and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’
Workshop and the University of New Hampshire. He lives in
Iowa City. His poems and short stories have appeared in American
Poetry Review, Arkana, Digging Through the Fat, Emerald City, Ocotillo
Review, Pank, Rigorous, Write Launch, and other magazines. His
micro-poetry collection To the Death of the Author was published
by La Resistencia Press.
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Where is it happening?
401 19th Street, Rock Island, IL, United States, Illinois 61201Event Location & Nearby Stays:
