The Center for Literary Arts is pleased to present authors Jaime Cortez and Dino Enrique Piacentini in a reading and conversation from their literary debuts. This event takes place on Thursday, November 7, 2024 at Hammer Theatre at 6:30 PM.

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Gordo by Jaime Cortez is a semi-autobiographical collection of stories set in a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. Stories center around the title character, a young, probably gay, boy who puts on a wrestler’s mask and throws fists with another boy in the neighborhood, fighting his own tears as he tries to grow into the idea of manhood so imposed on him by his father. As he comes of age, Gordo learns about sex, watches his father’s drunken fights, and discovers even his own documented Mexican-American parents are wary of undocumented migrants. These scenes from Steinbeck Country, seen so intimately from within, are full of humor, family drama, and a sweet frankness about serious matters – who belongs to America and how are they treated? Written with balance and poise, Cortez braids together elegant and inviting stories about life on a California farm worker camp, in essence redefining what all-American means.

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Jaime Cortez is a writer and visual artist based in Watsonville, California, and the San Francisco Bay Area. His fiction, essays, and drawings have appeared in diverse publications that include "Kindergarde: Experimental Writing For Children" (edited 2013 by Dana Teen Lomax for Black Radish Press), "No Straight Lines," a 40-year compendium of LGBT comics (edited 2012 by Justin Hall for Fantagraphics Press), "Street Art San Francisco" (edited 2009 by Annice Jacoby for Abrams Press), and "Infinite Cities," an experimental atlas of San Francisco (edited 2010 by Rebecca Solnit for UC Berkeley Press). He wrote and illustrated the graphic novel "Sexile" for AIDS Project Los Angeles in 2003.​ Cortez often combines humor and tragedy to tell stories of resilient survivors who exist on the margins of the economy, the law, and social acceptability. "Gordo" is Jaime's debut collection of short stories. Black Cat, an imprint of Grove Atlantic Press, is the publisher of the book. Cortez spent his early years in San Juan Bautista and Watsonville, two California farm towns where the stories are set. He received his B.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania, and his fine art MFA at UC Berkeley. His website is www.jaimecortez.org.

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This event is made possible thanks to the support of the Martha Heasley Cox Lecture and the College of Humanities and the Arts Artistic Excellence Programming Grants.