Join us for the release of Lucas Rivera's My AfroRican State of Soul!

FREE ADMISSION!

Click "Get Tickets" to RSVP & pre-order your copy to pick up at the event. Limited copies available.

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Hosted by Sean Hill

Music by Tosstones

(composer and Afro Puerto Rican musician)

Panel Discussion with Derik Smith:
The Afro Puerto Rican Experience of my Soul: Identity, Arts, and the Bahá’í Faith

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About My AfroRican State of Soul:

My AfroRican State of Soul is a blend of narrative nonfiction and poetry that chronicles Lucas Rivera’s journey towards intergenerational healing. This work speaks to both budding young creatives, and OG hip hop heads who remember the dawn of an artistic era. Inspired by the culturally dynamic tradition of Afro-Puerto Rican poets such as Piri Thomas and Pedro Peitri, author Lucas Rivera draws upon their unfiltered approach in this decades-spanning body of work, while also drawing from the emerging tradition of contemporary poetry and lyricism.

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About Lucas Rivera:

Lucas Rivera is a Bahá'í, husband, father, son, friend. Born in Salinas, Puerto Rico in 1977, he is an AfroRican multidisciplinary artist whose work expresses his culture and captures his autobiography through music, dance, paint, and poetry. He built his professional arts career serving his Latino community in North Philadelphia for more than sixteen years. His reputation as an innovative arts and entertainment management executive has continued to grow through work with various organizations throughout Southern California. Rivera is the Founder and CEO of Sakul Creative, LLC, a boutique cultural arts consulting agency that grounds event strategy and program development in community.

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Praise for My AfroRican State of Soul:

Rivera's poems are a journey through the vital substances of life and language. As his inner world spins onto the pages of this book, they shake with passion and pain. Like an epic Black salsa moving across continents, oceans, and generations, Rivera's poems show us the meaning of spiritual exuberance and resilience. They show us how to fill the dance of life with wisdom and, most of all, with love.

--Dr. Derik Smith, Associate Professor of Literature, Claremont McKenna College