Shortly after his death in 2004, Delgado was posthumously given the title of Denver’s first poet laureate, and his legacy has lived on in people like Christina Sigala, chair of the Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival at Metropolitan State College. “He was my first professor when I started college,” she recalls, “and he made a very direct impact on me, just by telling me that I was smart and I needed to go to college. Now I’m finishing my doctorate. He really gave a voice to those of us who did not have voices in academia.”
The festival takes place today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the St. Cajetan’s Event Center on the Auraria campus. Metro will celebrate Delgado’s life and career (he taught there for seventeen years) with a variety of events led by Chicano scholar Joe Navarro and punctuated with appearances by Delgado’s family, Metro officials and Lieutenant Governor Joseph Garcia, along with numerous readings and tributes from local poets. All events are free; for more information, call Metro’s Chicano Studies department at 303-556-3124.
Mon., April 25, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., 2011
