Francisco Delgado will read and discuss his novella about a CHamoru man who reflects on his teenage years while navigating the parenthood.

Prof. Francisco Delgado will read and discuss his novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD (TRP: The University Press of SHSU, July 2025). Winner of the 2024 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize, the book tells the story of Cody Taitano, a CHamoru slaman who reflects on his teenage years in 1999 while navigating the complexities of parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Delgado will explore the novella’s themes of race, class, and the enduring nature of friendship, as Cody recalls his first job at McDonald’s and the music that shaped his life.

Francisco Delgado is a CHamoru writer of fiction and poetry, as well as of literary scholarship on contemporary Native American and Indigenous literatures. Prof. Delgado’s novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD (Texas Review Press, July 2025), won the 2024 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize. His writing has been published in MANOA: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, Studies in the Novel, and Teaching English in the Two-Year College, and elsewhere. He teaches at Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY, where he created the first course devoted exclusively to the literatures of Native North America and the Indigenous Pacific.

If you miss this talk, the video and podcast will be available online the following week. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend and we look forward to sharing our latest lecture with you!