“Poetry is the most fundamental thread to give a voice to what is so forbidden,” said Marjorie Agosin, award-winning writer and advocator for human rights.

Agosin spoke last night before a crowded room of University of Massachusetts students and faculty members about her life as a Latin-American Jew.

Agosin spoke of ideas about conceptualization in her book, “Angel of Memory”, and focused on human rights, memory, Judaism, and being a Latin-American Jewish woman.

Agosin writes poetry in Spanish, and says the language is very important to her, calling it the language of her spirit and memory. Agosin feels that there are connections between the Spanish language and Judaism.

“Jewish writers who are writing in Spanish today are the new generation of writers that reclaim their ancient language,” she said.

Agosin’s connection with the Spanish language began with her displacement from the Chilean world through dictatorship, which connected her to the Jewish world. She was raised and lived in Santiago, Chile for 16 years where, in the early 20th century, her Jewish paternal and maternal grandparents had emigrated from Europe in the early 20th century.

It was then that Agosin said she began to understand what had happened to minorities living in a nation such as Chile, making her an observer of her own country.

In her book, “Angel of Memory”, Agosin “connects the holocaust to fascism in Chile,” and wants her book to be seen as a voyage.

Agosin read excerpts from her book, as well as from a new collection of poems she is currently working on that is dedicated in memory of her grandmother. Agosin said that everyone has a responsibility to memory. “A world without memory is a world deprived of human rights,” she said.

Visiting Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, Jyl L. Felman, gave the introduction for Marjorie Agosin.

“Now, I speak from the heart and passion of another Jewish woman writer, myself,” said Felman. “The magnanimity for your vision released a joy in me that I have not felt for years.”

“It is not often that a writer gets the privilege to be introduced by another writer,” said Agosin, as she took the podium.

The readings ended with a discussion, and Agosin took several questions from UMass students and faculty.

“I very much enjoyed the students and being with the people and I found there was a lot of spirit here,” Agosin said at the end of her address.

Agosin is currently a professor and chair of the Spanish department at Wellesley College.

The sponsors of the event last night included Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Hillel House, the departments of English, women’s studies, communication and media studies and Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Lee R. Edwards.