Fresno Pacific University’s Jean and Louis Janzen Writer Series is often a showcase for area writers of note—this year’s guest grew up within walking distance of the main campus.
Anthony Cody grew up near the corner of Belmont and Chestnut, two miles due north of the main FPU campus at the intersection of Chestnut and Butler in the heart of Southeast Fresno. A Latinx poet, he has lineage in the Bracero Program and Dust Bowl. Cody’s latest collection is The Rendering (Omnidawn, 2023). His debut collection, Borderland Apocrypha (Omnidawn, 2020) has won a Whiting Award and an American Book Award, and has been recognized by the National Book Foundation, PEN America and the L.A. Times. Cody teaches in the MFA program at Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA.
The 2024 Jean and Louis Janzen Visiting Writer’s Series presentation will span Cody’s work in the archives of the Treaty of Guadalupe, the Dust Bowl and collective complicities as complex as his own Irish and Mexican ancestry. Cody will speak to his upbringing and how his own identity has shaped his work.
The reading starts at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, February 1, in the Lin Family Performance Studio, part of the Warkentine Culture and Arts Center, on the main FPU campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno. Admission to the event, which includes light refreshments and a book-signing by the author, is free.
The Jean & Louis Janzen Visiting Writer’s Series is hosted by the School of Humanities Religion & Social Sciences to honor the service, teaching and contributions of Dr. Louis Janzen and Jean Janzen, award-winning Central Valley poet and FPU faculty.