Latino Book Review and Fundación Zapata Join Forces at Hay Festival Dallas Forum - Oct. 18
In the hushed, book-lined halls where literary festivals tend to unfold, the word revolution often carries the soft patina of metaphor—revolutionary prose, revolutionary poetics, revolutionary ideas. But at the Hay Festival Dallas Forum on October 18th, the term will mean something more immediate, more corporeal. “Narrativas Revolucionarias,” a panel convening at four o’clock that afternoon, will not dwell in figures of speech, but in the lived forces of three individuals. They will gather for a conversation on the power of narratives born in times of rupture and upheaval; how they reclaim memory, contest the status quo, and reshape cultural identity across borders.
We cannot begin to speak of survival, identity, and resistance in North America without invoking the name of the Mexican general Emiliano Zapata, whose life and legacy continue to inspire struggles for justice and memory across generations. One of the panelists, Edgar Castro Zapata, historian and President of Fundación Zapata, carries in his very name the inheritance of revolution. As the great-grandson of Emiliano Zapata, he embodies the enduring struggle for dignity and justice that defined Mexico’s Revolution of the South. His book, Emiliano Zapata: Testimonios de la Revolución del Sur, is more than scholarship; it is an act of preservation, gathering voices nearly erased by history and returning them to the people. At a moment when historical memory is under siege, Castro Zapata reminds us that to forget is to surrender, and to remember is to resist.
Among the three panelists is a writer who, according to former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, "…offers us a migration and migrant metaphysics—perhaps in the timbres of a border mermaid, a lyrical warrior crossing." Rossy Lima Padilla, poet, activist, scholar, and Executive Director of Latino Book Review, manifests the strength of immigrant voices. Originally from Veracruz and now in the United States, Lima has made her journey an unflinching subject of social reckoning. Her TEDx talk and a nationally broadcast PBS documentary frame her story as one of resilience and resistance, but it is in her poetry—most notably in Por que tanto he perdido – Let it Burn—that the raw urgency of displacement, grief, and survival burns brightest. Lima’s voice, both lyrical and uncompromising, transforms personal loss into collective witness. At a moment when immigrant narratives are too often reduced to statistics or political talking points, her work asserts that poetry itself is a defying act—an insistence on humanity against the forces of social and political brutality.
Completing the panel is Héctor "Vale" Rendón, scholar, educator, and host of Latino Book Review Presents. An assistant professor at Washington State, Rendón bridges the worlds of rigorous scholarship and public discourse, illuminating how culture, media, and representation shape identity. His research in Latinx studies, communication, and mediated social constructs reveals not only how stories are formed and circulated but also how they can inspire connection, empathy, and transformation. Through his teaching, writing, and podcasting, Rendón champions the power of storytelling to amplify voices, celebrate culture, and imagine new possibilities. In a time when narratives are more influential than ever, his work affirms that thoughtful engagement with stories is a force for understanding, creativity, and collective empowerment.
Narrativas Revolucionarias is an assertion that stories themselves are insurgent. In an America where books are banned, where memory is policed, and where belonging is contested, this panel will offer a radical counter-vision in which preserving memory is resisting erasure, telling one’s story is reclaiming existence, and to imagine ourselves anew is a revolutionary gesture.
We cannot begin to speak of survival, identity, and resistance in North America without invoking the name of the Mexican general Emiliano Zapata, whose life and legacy continue to inspire struggles for justice and memory across generations. One of the panelists, Edgar Castro Zapata, historian and President of Fundación Zapata, carries in his very name the inheritance of revolution. As the great-grandson of Emiliano Zapata, he embodies the enduring struggle for dignity and justice that defined Mexico’s Revolution of the South. His book, Emiliano Zapata: Testimonios de la Revolución del Sur, is more than scholarship; it is an act of preservation, gathering voices nearly erased by history and returning them to the people. At a moment when historical memory is under siege, Castro Zapata reminds us that to forget is to surrender, and to remember is to resist.
Among the three panelists is a writer who, according to former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, "…offers us a migration and migrant metaphysics—perhaps in the timbres of a border mermaid, a lyrical warrior crossing." Rossy Lima Padilla, poet, activist, scholar, and Executive Director of Latino Book Review, manifests the strength of immigrant voices. Originally from Veracruz and now in the United States, Lima has made her journey an unflinching subject of social reckoning. Her TEDx talk and a nationally broadcast PBS documentary frame her story as one of resilience and resistance, but it is in her poetry—most notably in Por que tanto he perdido – Let it Burn—that the raw urgency of displacement, grief, and survival burns brightest. Lima’s voice, both lyrical and uncompromising, transforms personal loss into collective witness. At a moment when immigrant narratives are too often reduced to statistics or political talking points, her work asserts that poetry itself is a defying act—an insistence on humanity against the forces of social and political brutality.
Completing the panel is Héctor "Vale" Rendón, scholar, educator, and host of Latino Book Review Presents. An assistant professor at Washington State, Rendón bridges the worlds of rigorous scholarship and public discourse, illuminating how culture, media, and representation shape identity. His research in Latinx studies, communication, and mediated social constructs reveals not only how stories are formed and circulated but also how they can inspire connection, empathy, and transformation. Through his teaching, writing, and podcasting, Rendón champions the power of storytelling to amplify voices, celebrate culture, and imagine new possibilities. In a time when narratives are more influential than ever, his work affirms that thoughtful engagement with stories is a force for understanding, creativity, and collective empowerment.
Narrativas Revolucionarias is an assertion that stories themselves are insurgent. In an America where books are banned, where memory is policed, and where belonging is contested, this panel will offer a radical counter-vision in which preserving memory is resisting erasure, telling one’s story is reclaiming existence, and to imagine ourselves anew is a revolutionary gesture.
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