At UH, Creating the Country’s First Spanish-Language Creative Writing Program

Style Magazine Newswire | 7/21/2017, 1:17 p.m.
Which country is home to the second-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world? It’s us—as in the United States, with only …
Cristina Rivera Garza

Source: HoustoniaMag.com

Which country is home to the second-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world? It’s us—as in the United States, with only Mexico home to more who speak, write and think in the language. That’s why Cristina Rivera Garza, distinguished professor in Hispanic Studies at UH, says establishing the nation’s first Spanish-language creative-writing PhD program was “not just natural, but urgent.” Award-winning Mexican-American author Garza is the spirit behind the program that has an inaugural class of nine students officially in the PhD in Spanish with a concentration in creative writing program. Rivera Garza doesn’t want her students to operate in a vacuum, and as such, heavily Hispanic Houston makes the perfect destination for the new program. Since arriving at the university last year, she’s sought partnerships with Austin High School and Ripley House—both serving the historically Hispanic Second Ward—to engage the local community in telling their own stories.

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