The SB Public Library, Gunpowder Press, and Letras Latinas present a poetry reading featuring Latine authors Carlos Andrés Gomez and Brent Ameneyro on Wednesday, August 19, 5:30 pm, Santa Barbara Central Library, 30 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara. Admission is free.
Winner of the 2026 Alta California Chapbook Prize, CARLOS ANDRÉS GÓMEZ is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, and educator from New York City. He is the author of Fractures, winner of the Felix Pollak Prize, Hijito, winner of the Broken River Prize and a #1 SPD bestseller, Circling Fatherhood, winner of the Poetry InternationalChapbook Prize, Patrilineation, winner of the Alta California Chapbook Prize, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House. A star of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, TV One’s Verses and Flow, and Spike Lee’s #1 box office movie Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Carlos is one of the highest booked acts in the history of the college market and among the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world. Carlos’ honors include the Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize, North American Book Award Gold Medal, and the International Book Award for Poetry. A genre-transcending multi-hyphenate, he partnered with John Legend on Senior Orientation, a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students. Carlos is a proud father of two and co-founder of the Excelano Project.
Brent Ameneyro is the author of the collection A Face Out of Clay (The Center for Literary Publishing, 2024), winner of the 2025 NIEA Juror’s Choice Award. He was a Letras Latinas Poetry Coalition Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, a Poets & Writers Get The Word Out Fellow, and a recipient of SDSU’s Research Award for Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice. He currently serves as an associate at Letras Latinas and as the poetry editor for The Los Angeles Review.
As a music artist, he has scored several short films which have been featured in Cannes Film Festival, San Francisco Short Film Festival, and elsewhere. He has composed over five albums of avant-garde music with his brother Kent Ameneyro and has performed live in Seattle, Portland, San Jose, Los Angeles, and other cities.