Author Manuel Muñoz Visits FSU

By Giana Nardelli

Award winning author Manuel Muñoz visited Florida State University last Tuesday, April 4th,
for a daylong celebration of his writing.

Muñoz, a professor of English at the University of Arizona, came to speak on the FSU campus at
a Q&A panel and read at the Bark for the Jerome Stern Reading Series.

The Q&A panel was held at 11AM in the Williams Building common room, where students,
faculty, and members of the community were able to ask questions about the author and his
writing. That evening, he was a featured writer at the Jerome Stern Reading Series, where he
read from his latest collection, The Consequences.

The Consequences is Muñoz’s fourth publication and is his first title in 15 years since the release
of his novel, What You See In The Dark. This work was made available in 2022 and is a
collection of short stories that describe the principle of obligation through the lives of many
characters, each set in the 1980s southwestern United States. 

The subject is close to home for Muñoz, who was born and raised in southern California. The
narratives within these stories are heavily influenced by and reflect experiences he has witnessed
throughout his own upbringing.

When asked about his motivations for this visit and his writing, he stated that his inspiration
stems from his community:

“When I do readings and presentations in my Central Valley community, I am reminded of how

special it is to be a writer who focuses on our area. In the part of California where I am from,
students are often seeking to get out to the bigger cities and only come to appreciate our Valley
home many years later as a potential source of creativity,” said Muñoz, “I read often at Reedley
College, a community college just six miles from where I grew up.  We always have a packed
auditorium of first-generation students who are seeing, most likely for the first time, a writer who
comes from a town that looks very much like theirs.  It is always a special moment.”

The two events were a collaborative effort between the Jerome Stern Reading Series, the FSU
creative writing program, and the Southeast Review.

“Every campus reading and presentation is the work of a lot of people,” explained Muñoz, “The
Southeast Review, FSU English, and the Jerome Stern Reading Series all coordinated this
visit. As I understand it, this was student-led and organized, too, which makes this visit extra
special.”

“I am especially grateful to Emilio Carrero, with whom I worked closely in the MFA program at
the University of Arizona,” he added. 
Emilio Carrero is a doctoral student for the creative writing program and was a graduate student
at the University of Arizona before enrolling at Florida State. Manuel Muñoz was one of their
graduate professors.

“In terms of a teacher, he’s very hands-on. One who is willing to dedicate his time and energy to
you and to helping you grow as a writer … very hands-on, very attentive, and also very
personable,” said Carrero about his time spent learning with Muñoz, “He’s willing to put in the
time to get to know you, not just in the classroom, but outside of that.”

This collaboration between the Jerome Stern Reading Series and the Southeast Review has been
in the works for a long time, reported Jerome Stern co-host Olivia Sokolowski, and she
emphasized that it was important for each group that these joint events featured an author from
an underrepresented community.

Carrero, who is the upcoming assistant director for the Southeast Review, had this connection,
reached out to Muñoz directly.

“Our emphasis was on diversity and inclusion,” said Carrero, “the key criteria of selecting the
reader for this event was someone who comes from a marginalized background. It is super
important, especially in English – which historically as a department has tended to be very much
white and masculine – to have voices of someone who is not only Mexican-American, a personal
of color, but also a queer person who has been able to carve out a career in life in that kind of
culture.”

These events featured large gatherings and were very successful, as many members of the FSU
and Tallahassee community were able to speak with and listen to Manuel Muñoz during his time
at the university.

Carrero and Sokolowski both anticipate that many more partnerships such as this one are to
come in the future.

Giana Nardelli is an English major on the editing, writing, and media Track, with a second
major in media/communication studies.

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