Session Descriptions
Registration required for all sessions except those marked*.
Exclusive links will be sent to registered writers.
Friday, October 16, 2020
9 AM - 1PM PT
Four one hour information sessions, each with a different organization that serves Latinx writers: 9 AM -Letras Latinas, 10 AM - Latinx Writers Caucus, 11 AM - VONA, NOON- National Endowment for the Arts.
Click on each org to be taken to its website!
NOON PT
Writers Ages 18-25: Who are we? What do we need to nurture our writing lives? Facilitated discussion with Tatiana Prieto, senior, University of New Mexico
Free and open to all Latinx writers ages 18-25.
Register in advance for this meeting:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
1 PM PT
Opening Ceremony: "Sembrando: Hope, Healing, Growth," directed by Monica Sanchez. “In 1985 I met my destiny. When the Theatre and I found each other, I recognized at once the complement to my proclivities and susceptibilities: the visual arts and design, the written and spoken word, music and song, movement, gesture, dance, and perhaps most importantly, collaboration. For 30+ years, I’ve followed my bliss. I’ve honed the craft of professional actor; written and devised work collaboratively and independently for the stage; directed a handful of productions small and large; and enjoyed a myriad of assignments as a teaching artist and community engagement facilitator.” Monica’s filmography includes “The Glorias” (2020); “Pozole”(2019); “House of Cards” (2015-2018), “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” (2016); “Frontera” (2014); “Blood Brothers” (2014), and “Grey’s Anatomy” (2006). www.dramatista.com.
2 PM PT
Writing Alone Together:
A quiet gathering, in smaller groups, to write alone in the company of others. Prompts provided or bring your own. Optional sharing at the end.
3 PM PT
Dinero para escritores Reunirse para discutir sus necesidades financieras como escritores latin@s e imaginar las posibilidades para la innovación de apoyo y recursos monetarios. ¿Cómo les gustaría que se expandieran e innovaran los recursos financieros para escritores?
5 PM PT
Hosted Dinners (Online): Assigned groups of 10-15 writers join a host in his/her/their home for a meal and good company.
Saturday, October 17, 2020
9-11 AM PT
Two one hour sessions, each with a different organization serving Latinx writers: 9 am, Macondo and 10 am, Duende District.
Click on each org to be taken to its website!
11 AM PT
Money for Writers
Gather to discuss your financial needs as Latinx writers and imagine the current and future possibilities for innovation in monetary support and resources. How would you like to see financial resources for writers expanded and innovated? Facilitated discussion.
NOON PT
Writers Ages 17 & Under: Who are we? What do we need to nurture our writing lives? Facilitated discussion led by Anne Lechuga-Kanapilly, Amy Biel HS, Albuquerque, and Sarah Peralta, New Mexico School for the Arts, Santa Fe.
Free and Open to all Latinx writers 17 & Under*
Pre-register by 10/14/20
1 PM PT
Brainlingo: Writing the Voice of the Body with Edwin Torres. Writers are creatures of awareness, receptive beings that embody transition. As writers, how can we allow the creative process to align our naturally trilingual voice, our speaking-seeing-hearing voice, with the humanity that defines us. Using performance, movement and sensory exercises, this workshop will be structured as a creative laboratory that will explore how we communicate by exercising the languages inside us, finding where the senses meet, and where the process of writing can begin. Edwin Torres was born in the Bronx and is a longtime resident of New York City. He is a poet whose highly acclaimed performances and live shows combine vocal and physical improvisation and theater. (Simultaneous Session)
1 PM PT
Writing the Bosque del Río Grande with Michelle Otero. Albuquerque's 4th Poet Laureate (2018-2020) hosts a virtual walk along the Rio Grande bosque in Albuquerque, highlighting the work of poets and raising awareness of the need to preserve the river. Michelle Otero is a writer, community-based artist, and coach, who utilizes creative expression and storytelling as the basis for organizational development and positive social change. She is the author of Malinche’s Daughter, an essay collection based on her work with women survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Oaxaca, Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow.
(Simultaneous Session)
2 PM PT
“When Reality {Bites}” with Rosebud Ben-Oni and Ruben Quesada. In this workshop, we will discuss the beliefs, ideologies and fields that we hold as frameworks and truths change over time and how this influences not only our writing but also what we perceive as reality. After a discussion of prose poems by Camille T. Dungy, Harryette Mullen, Gabriela Mistral and Harmony Holiday, this workshop will engage you in exercises and a short writing assignment that you will have the option of sharing at the end of the session. Ruben Quesada is the author of Revelations, Next Extinct Mammal, and Exiled from the Throne of Night. He is a poetry editor at AGNI magazine. Currently, he teaches in the Writing and Publishing graduate program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and online for the UCLA Writers’ Program. Rosebud Ben-Oni is the winner of the 2019 Alice James Award for If This Is the Age We End Discovery, forthcoming in 2021, and the author of turn around, BRXGHT XYXS (Get Fresh Books, 2019). Her chapbook “20 Atomic Sonnets” is forthcoming from Black Warrior Review, and is part of a larger project called The Atomic Sonnets, which she wrote in honor of the Periodic Table’s 150th Birthday. (Simultaneous Session)
2 PM PT
Lorraine Avila. Writing Joy: A Generative Workshop. In this generative fiction writing workshop, we will center joy and self-care. In a world where Black and Brown trauma has become a commodity, what does it look like to lean on what keeps us alive on a regular basis? It is revolutionary to write stories that situate joy at the forefront.
Lorraine Avila is a Black woman with Caribbean roots in the Dominican Republic. She was born and raised in the Bronx. Her mission to break free from generational trauma by continuing to rupture the traditions of silence. Avila has a BA from Fordham University in English and Middle East studies with a minor in Creative Writing and an MA in Teaching from New York University. She is an anti-racist educator; her expertise lies in middle school literacy. Currently she serves as an educational specialist for youth non-profit.
(Simultanous session)
3 PM PT
Genre Gatherings: Poetry, Nonfiction, Children's Writing, Playwriting. Breakout groups by genre. Facilitated discussion.
4 PM PT
Genre Gatherings: Fiction, Young Adult/Middle Grades, Hybrid/Multi-Genre. Breakout groups by genre. Facilitated discussion.
6 PM PT
Music and Dancing online with BARACUTANGA!
Baracutanga is a seven-piece band, representing four different countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, USA), that blends South American ancestral traditions with a modern sensibility, whose exciting and distinct Latin flavor keeps crowds dancing and always wanting more. Baracutanga creates songs that cross linguistic and cultural barriers, building bridges between the south and the north, overcoming the barriers of discrimination and promoting intercultural experiences that empower Latinos and all people with a positive message of self-affirmation. Bring your own cocktail/mocktail and dance to the music.
Sunday, October 18, 2020
9 AM PT
Brainlingo: Writing the Voice of the Body with Edwin Torres. Writers are creatures of awareness, receptive beings that embody transition. As writers, how can we allow the creative process to align our naturally trilingual voice, our speaking-seeing-hearing voice, with the humanity that defines us. Using performance, movement and sensory exercises, this workshop will be structured as a creative laboratory that will explore how we communicate by exercising the languages inside us, finding where the senses meet, and where the process of writing can begin. Edwin Torres was born in the Bronx and is a longtime resident of New York City. He is a poet whose highly acclaimed performances and live shows combine vocal and physical improvisation and theater. (Simultaneous Session)
9 AM PT
Writing the Bosque del Río Grande with Michelle Otero. Albuquerque's 4th Poet Laureate (2018-2020) hosts a virtual walk along the Rio Grande bosque in Albuquerque, highlighting the work of poets and raising awareness of the need to preserve the river. Michelle Otero is a writer, community-based artist, and coach, who utilizes creative expression and storytelling as the basis for organizational development and positive social change. She is the author of Malinche’s Daughter, an essay collection based on her work with women survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Oaxaca, Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow.
(Simultaneous Session)
10 AM PT
Radically Tender with Ariana Brown. Embracing our own softness can feel impossible in a world which tells us we must develop hardness in order to survive. How can we allow ourselves to find the power in tenderness, in softness? This workshop explores the capabilities of tenderness, focusing on self-care and communal care, through writing exercises and group dialogue. Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from the Southside of San Antonio, TX. She is the author of 'Sana Sana,' a poetry chapbook with @gameoverbooks, and is a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion. Ariana's work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, spirituality, and healing. Find her poems + rants on IG/Twitter @arianathepoet.
(Simultaneous Session)
10 AM PT
Writing and Sensing Through Oppression with J. Michael Martinez and Teresa Veramendi. Our workshop will explore issues of oppression and empowerment, utilizing embodied exercises from Theatre of the Oppressed and Body-Mind Centering. These exercises will act as the focus from which we generate language and art employing aleatory and contemporary art methods (written & visual). Longlisted for the National Book Award, winner of the National Poetry Series, and a recipient of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, J. Michael Martinez is the author of three collections of poetry. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Poetry at St. Lawrence University. Teresa Veramendi holds degrees in Drama and Performance Studies from NYU and an MFA in Theater from Naropa. She co-founded Theatre of the Oppressed Chicago and has facilitated over 100 Theatre of the Oppressed workshops.
(Simultaneous Session)
11 AM PT
Plática I: Living, Working, and Writing: COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, Election 2020. Facilitated discussion: taking our temperature, articulating our challenges, making commitments.
1 PM PT
Plática II: Moving Forward Together - The Future of the National Latinx Writers Gathering. Facilitated discussion: this year is a beginning. What do we want this gathering to be in the future?
3 PM PT
Closing Ceremony: “Soñando Social,”
directed by Monica Sanchez. “In 1985 I met my destiny. When the Theatre and I found each other, I recognized at once the complement to my proclivities and susceptibilities: the visual arts and design, the written and spoken word, music and song, movement, gesture, dance, and perhaps most importantly, collaboration. For 30+ years, I’ve followed my bliss. I’ve honed the craft of professional actor; written and devised work collaboratively and independently for the stage; directed a handful of productions small and large; and enjoyed a myriad of assignments as a teaching artist and community engagement facilitator.” Monica’s filmography includes “The Glorias” (2020); “Pozole”(2019); “House of Cards” (2015-2018), “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” (2016); “Frontera” (2014); “Blood Brothers” (2014), and “Grey’s Anatomy” (2006). www.dramatista.com.