KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 30, 2024 – When memoirist and poet Javier Zamora was 9 years old, he emigrated thousands of miles from El Salvador to Arizona. He did so without his parents, who had emigrated to the U.S. years before. He was unaccompanied except for a group of strangers – adults and children – he joined as they moved north.
His harrowing journey became the award-winning 2022 memoir “Solito,” which, in its review, The New York Times called “an important, powerful work. Zamora treks through his memories and nightmares, revisiting a childhood that was lost.”
On Thursday, Oct. 3, Zamora, an advocate for immigrants maintaining ownership of their own stories, will discuss his book in a conversation that is part of Hispanic Heritage Month and the Center for the Humanities’ year-long lecture series, “Sustaining Democracy.” The talk is at 4 p.m. in the Hope Room of the Higgins Welcome Center, 45 Upper College Road, Kingston. Registration is advised. The event will also be available via livestream for those who have registered.
The humanities series, which complements the fall Honors Colloquium on “Democracy in Peril,” is presenting a wide range of speakers – writers, artists, historians, and public humanities professionals – who are sharing how the arts and humanities can help us interpret and communicate threats to democracy and provide paths to democratic engagement. The lectures are free and open to the public.
“‘Solito’ is a really dramatic story – told, compellingly, from a child’s perspective – about a trip facilitated by a coyote, or smuggler, in which so many things went wrong,” said Evelyn Sterne, director of the Center for the Humanities. “It’s also a really moving account of Zamora’s relationship with the two selfless adults who took him under their wing and protected him, forming a makeshift family under traumatic circumstances.”
As part of his presentation, Zamora will take part in a moderated discussion led by English professor Martha Elena Rojas, co-organizer of Hispanic Heritage Month. Drawing on his experiences, Zamora, who volunteers for such immigration support groups as Salvavision, The Kino Border Initiative, and The Florence Project, will discuss the importance of a humane immigration policy.
“Solito,” which was longlisted for the PEN American 2023 Literary Award, was a New York Times bestseller and a 2023 American Book Award winner. The URI College of Arts and Sciences organized a community read of the book, offering 100 copies of “Solito” that were “enthusiastically” snatched up by URI community members, Sterne said.
Along with “Solito,” Zamora is the author of the poetry collection “Unaccompanied,” winner of the Whiting Award. He was the winner of the 2024 Whiting Fellowship and 2022 Los Angeles Times-Christopher Isherwood Prize. He has held fellowships at Stanford University, Harvard University, National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, CantoMundo, Colgate University, and others. He is the recipient of the 2017 Narrative Prize, 2016 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and the 2020 Pushcart Prize.
Along with the Center for the Humanities, “Sustaining Democracy” is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Division of Research and Economic Development, URI’s Honors Program, Multicultural Student Services Center, Office of Community, Equity and Diversity, and Office of the President.