"The pen is the language of the soul," says Cervantes in Don Quixote. On March 8, the Glendon Hispanic Club showed how true this is during an evening of literature and music from the Spanish diaspora.
Close to 50 people attended Spanish Without Borders: An Encounter with the Spanish Language through its Literary Texts, which featured readings of work by Spanish authors (left) interspersed with Mexican and Chilean folkloric dancing, and lots of delicious food. The evening was televised by Omni Television and broadcast on its "Hispanic Roots" program.
Hispanic studies student David Tenorio is vice-president of the Glendon Hispanic Club and one of the organizers of the event. Originally from Mexico, Tenorio is impressed with "the lively interest that a predominantly English-speaking country displays towards other cultures. It reflects this society's tolerance and promotion of cultural diversity."
The evening featured Glendon students and guests reading their own poetry and short stories as well as from literary texts. Professor Emerita Margarita Feliciano, an Italo-Argentinian poet and coordinator of Glendon’s certificate program in Spanish-English translation, read from her own work. Israeli poet Margalit Matitiahu, in Toronto to screen her film León, read from her work written in Ladino, a hybrid of Old Castilian (Spanish) and Hebrew spoken only by Sephardic Jews.
Tenorio said the student-run Hispanic Club received support for Spanish Without Borders from the Hispanic Studies Department and the Spanish Embassy in Toronto. He said the club dubbed Francesca Di Rosa, program administrator of the Hispanic Studies Department, the "fairy godmother" for making this event come to fruition.
Right: Glendon Hispanic Club
Visit the Glendon Hispanic Club Web site for more information.
This article was submitted to YFile by Glendon communications officer Marika Kemeny.