Creative Writing and Creating Space

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

David Hernandez, an Associate Professor in the Department of English, first became interested in poetry in 1996 as an undergraduate at California State University, Long Beach. “I was an art major and only had a few classes left to earn my degree, but I was also coming to the realization that language interested me more than visual art—apparent to anyone who flipped through my last sketchbooks. So, I switched my major to creative writing. My professor at the time, Hayley Mitchell (an aspiring poet herself), saw something worthy in my surreal first poems and suggested that I read Charles Simic. Soon after, I was at the campus library, pulling down one of his earlier collections, either Classic Ballroom Dances or Austerities. That, I would have to say, was the turning point for me: Simic, a quiet aisle, cross-legged on the floor, one magical world after another unfolding between my hands. I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, this is it. This is what I am going to do.’ Not necessarily write poems like Simic, but simply write poems.”

Hernandez’s most recent collection of poems, Hello I Must Be Going (Pitt Poetry Series, 2022), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the California Book Award. His other books include Dear, Sincerely (Pitt Poetry Series, 2016); Hoodwinked (Sarabande Books, 2011), winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry; Always Danger (SIU Press, 2006), winner of the Crab Orchard Series; and A House Waiting for Music (Tupelo Press, 2003). Hernandez has also been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and two Pushcart Prizes, and his poems have appeared in Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, and Southern Review. He is also the author of two young adult novels, No More Us for You and Suckerpunch, both published by HarperCollins.

As a member of the literary community for the past 20 years, both by publishing books and teaching writing workshops, Hernandez shows students what is possible through study and practice. “I foster a sense of cultural enrichment and appreciation for the arts here at CSULB. Poetry and fiction have the power to evoke empathy, challenge perspectives, and embolden young writers to action. Students have expressed appreciation for the opportunity to study with a professor and writer who represents their often-underrepresented community. I understand that my presence in the classroom offers young writers an example, the possibility of their own voices being heard. In my writing workshops, I am hoping to create space for individuals to celebrate diversity and to share their own stories, and I am here to listen, celebrate, and mentor.”