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Acclaimed poet and spoken word artist Mayda del Valle will speak at this year’s Guest of Honor University Artist/Lecture Series. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the Kent Student Center Kiva. This event is free and open to the public.

“I invited Mayde del Valle to speak at Kent State for two reasons: first, to celebrate Hispanic Awareness Month, and secondly, to provide students specifically, but also faculty, staff and members of our community, with an opportunity to meet a young woman who is successful in her creative endeavors,” says Deborah Craig, Ph.D., coordinator of recruitment and scholarships for the Honors College.

Del Valle is the winner of the 2001 Nuyorican Grand Slam Championship and went on to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual Championship. Del Valle is also the youngest person and first Latino to win the title. A native of the South Side of Chicago, she began performing her own writing while in high school and relocated to New York City after graduating from Williams College with a B.A. in art.

Del Valle also made an appearance on the HBO show “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.” She also started a one-woman show, “The Insecurities of an Eagle,” which won her an Audience Favorite Award at New York City’s third annual Downtown Urban Theatre Festival. While an artist in residence at Youth Speaks, she recently premiered an excerpt of a new show “Salida” as part of the Living Word Festival.
She combines profoundly personal and thought-provoking work with the rhythm and pulse of hip-hop culture.

The Guest of Honor University Artist/Lecture Series is funded by the Office of the Provost and coordinated by the Honors College.

For additional questions or if you need special accommodations for disabilities, please notify the Honors College as soon as possible at 330-672-2312.