Thanks to the Marshall Artists Series generous community partners, faculty & staff at Marshall University are invited to purchase a ticket at a 50% discount to A Conversation with Javier Zamora on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center. This event is part of the 2nd annual Masters at Marshall Distinguished Speaker Series presented by The Huntington Foundation, Inc., City of Huntington, Nelson Mullins and Village Caregiving.
The evening’s conversation about Zamora’s New York Times Best Selling book, Solito, will be moderated by Dr. Avinandan “Avi” Mukherjee, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marshall University; Dr. Montserrat Miller, Executive Director of Marshall University’s John Deaver Drinko Academy; and Tim Irr, Anchor/Reporter at WSAZ.
Solito is Salvadoran poet Javier Zamora’s debut memoir, narrated by his nine-year-old self. Accompanied by strangers and a hired “coyote, Zamora describes leaving his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with his parents in the U.S. What was expected to be a two-week, three-thousand-mile journey became two life-altering months as he traveled from El Salvador to Guatemala and Mexico. Zamora describes the harrowing journey highlighting moments of reprieve among the perilous boat trips, desert treks, arrests, and betrayals.
“The magic of this book lies not only in the beguiling voice of young Javier, or the harrowing journey and immense bravery of the migrants, or in the built-in hero’s journey of this narrative. It’s hard to reconcile the fact that this book hasn’t always been with us. How can something so essential and fundamental to the American story not already be part of our canon?” – San Francisco Chronicle
Faculty and staff may purchase their half-price ticket at the Marshall Artists Series Box Office in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center (Mon – Fri 12pm – 4 pm). The discounted ticket price is $27.13 (price includes tax and fees). Faculty and staff must present MU ID at box office and at show. The Marshall Artists Series accepts all major credit cards. For more information call 304-696-3326.
An Evening with Javier Zamora is also sponsored by WV Division of Culture & History, WV Department of Education, Cabell County Commission, Encova, Anonymous, The I.H.N. Fund of the Foundation for the Tri-State Community, Inc., The Herald Dispatch, iHeart Radio and WSAZ.