A Conversation with San Diego Poet Laureate Jason Magabo

A Conversation with San Diego Poet Laureate Jason Magabo Perez

DATE/TIME: February 28, 2024, 6 P.M.–8 P.M.

VENUE: UC San Diego: Ida & Cecil Green Faculty Club

In addition to a moderated conversation with Audrey Geisel University Librarian Erik Mitchell, Perez will read from some of his published works of poetry. A reception will follow the discussion.

Registration is open and required.

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About Jason Magabo Perez

Jason Magabo Perez is a Filipino American poet, performer, essayist, researcher and educator. Perez is the author of “Phenomenology of Superhero” (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2016), “This is for the mostless” (WordTech Editions, 2017), and “I ask about what falls away” (Kaya Press, forthcoming 2024). Blending poetry, prose, performance, film/video, and oral history, Perez’s work explores Filipino American histories, colonialism, state violence, solidarity, migration, memory and intimacy.

Perez’s work has appeared in publications such as Interim, Witness, The Feminist Wire, Marías at Sampaguitas, Kalfou, San Diego Union-Tribune and NPR’s Here & Now. Perez has also written and performed three staged multimedia performance works: The Passion of El Hulk Hogancito (Kularts San Francisco, 2009); You Will Gonna Go Crazy (Kularts San Francisco, 2011); and Blue Bin Improvisations (MexiCali Biennial at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, 2018).

Recipient of a Challenge America Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Perez has been a Featured Artist at New Americans Museum, Community Scholar-in-Residence at the San Diego Public Library, and Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Art and Thought. Perez has performed at notable venues such as the National Asian American Theater Festival, International Conference of the Philippines, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Asian Art Museum, La Jolla Playhouse and Sunshine Brooks Theater.

Alumnus of the VONA Writing Workshops for Writers of Color, Perez holds an M.F.A. in Writing and Consciousness from New College of California and a dual Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies and Communication from U

niversity of California San Diego. Perez works as Associate Professor and Director of Ethnic Studies at California State University San Marcos, Community Arts Fellow at Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies, Associate Editor at Ethnic Studies Review, and is a core organizer with The Digital Sala. Current Fellow with the Academy of American Poets, Perez serves as San Diego Poet Laureate 2023-24.