TIE-IN TALK: “The Conquistadora and the Poet – Rebels with a Cause”

Join us on Thursday evenings for engaging talks with local experts on a variety of fascinating topics related to the exhibition on view. We discuss topics linked to what’s in the gallery and bring it out into the community!

About the Talk:
Join historian and author Suzanne Litrel on a journey to the colonial Latin American past, where she explores the life story and memories of two extraordinary 17th century women. For the most part, women in 17th-century Spain were illiterate and relegated largely to domestic tasks, but a select few forged their own paths. After a failed attempt to pursue an education by dressing as a man, Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz turned to the convent to find intellectual freedom as a nun, and went on to become known as the first poet of the Americas, as well as a writer, philosopher, and composer – earning her the nickname “The Phoenix of America.”

Catalina de Erauso, on the other hand, abandoned her religious life as a nun and instead disguised herself as a man to escape to the New World where she became a ruthless conquistador.

Weaving together the incredible stories of Catalina de Erauso, “The Lietenant Nun”, and Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz, “The Phoenix of America,” reveals the paths of two determined women that were able to find freedom and share their life stories with the world in their own words.

About the Speaker:
Suzanne Litrel, Ph.D. is a historian, educator, and author. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Notable Women of Modern Latin America (to be released in Nov 2023), as well as the co-author of Notable Women of Colonial Latin America, and a contributing writer to the four-volume Women Who Changed the World. For more information, see suzannelitrel.com