International Award-winning Author to Visit Misericordia University

International Award-winning Author to Visit Misericordia University 

DALLAS, PA - As part of Misericordia University's 2025 Diversity Leadership Summit, Colombian-American poet Carlos Andres Gómez, star of HBO's 'Def Poetry Jam' and the Spike Lee movie 'Inside Man' with Denzel Washington, will perform his original work on Saturday, March 15 at 9:00 a.m. at Sandy and Marlene Insalaco Hall on campus. 

The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception and book signing with Gómez. This year's theme of the Diversity Leadership Summit is "Storytelling for Change: Narratives that Connect and Inspire."

Gómez is the author of Hijito, for which he was awarded the Foreword INDIES Gold Medal and the International Book Award in 2020, and the coming-of-age memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House in 2012. 

His most recent book, Fractures, was selected by Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry. With keynotes and performances at more that 1,500 colleges, universities, and independent schools and companies in 47 states and 28 countries across six continents, Gómez is one of the highest booked acts in the history of the college market and among the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world. He has been featured on NPR, PBS, TEDx, Upworthy, Central Park SummerStage, Lincoln Center, and partnered with John Legend for Senior Orientation, a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students. 

A former social worker and public school teacher, Gómez first made a name for himself by winning at the Apollo Theaters celebrated Amateur Night and later as a member of the renowned Nuyorican Poets Cafe's slam team. In 2008, he collaborated with Tony Award-winning tap dance legend Savion Glover on Broadway. Gómez is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.  

For more information on the 2025 Diversity Leadership Summit, click here.