#30: Richard Rodriguez 2010

On this episode of Rewrite Radio from Festival 2010, Richard Rodriguez delivers the speech he rewrote after realizing that Festivalgoers really did want him to talk about the complexities of faith and class in his life as a writer. Starting with an Elvis-singing taxi-driver in the Sinai and a Thanksgiving turkey blessed with a Hindu hymn, he unfolds his American story.

Richard Rodriguez writes about the diversity of cultural and religious traditions in conversation—and in conflict—throughout our country and our world. The winner of a Peabody Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an Emmy, a Fulbright, and the Anisfield-Wolf Award for Race Relations, he is also the author of The Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. His other books include Brown: The Last Discovery of Richard Rodriguez, Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father, and Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography.

Born in California to immigrants, Rodriguez is a journalist as well as a writer of memoirs. He has written regularly for several newspapers and magazines and has contributed to PBS’s NewsHour and reported for the BBC. A nominee for a Pulitzer Prize, he has also published work in Harper’s, Mother Jones, Time, and The American Scholar, among many others.

Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier.

You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.