LCSC to host award-winning poet for reading of ‘We Had Our Reasons’

Poet Ricardo Ruiz said his book of poems, “We Had Our Reasons,” couldn’t have been done without stories shared with him by family and friends about their experiences immigrating to the United States. The book last year won the Washington state book award. 

“The interviews though, formal, were really just conversations with friends that I was able to record because (those) years of trust (were) already there,” he said.

Each poem’s byline includes both Ruiz and the storyteller who shared with him. The poems are translated in both English and Spanish versions. Ruiz says keeping those stories accessible to the community that birthed them was essential.

Ruiz said he hopes the book of poems will help preserve immigrant stories for the next generation.

The Lewis-Clark State College Center for Arts and History will host Ruiz for a reading of excerpts from “We Had Our Reasons” at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11 at the center. The address is 415 Main St. in downtown Lewiston. The event is free and open to the public.