Lit & Luz Festival Brings Together Artists from Chicago and Mexico
The Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art returns October 13th for its tenth iteration, bringing together twelve contemporary writers, visual artists, and performers from Mexico and Chicago for a week-long bilingual programme of more than a dozen events centered around the year’s theme, “TEN”—a reference to the festival’s anniversary, but also to the Spanish verb tener (“to have” in English) and all its connotations. Taking place in numerous venues across Chicago and culminating in the signature Live Magazine Show at the Museum of Contemporary Art on October 21st, the festival will also publish several of its events online, with a separate iteration of the program hosted in Mexico City in the winter.
Produced by MAKE Literary Production, Lit & Luz is one of several literary festivals seeking to promote cultural exchange between the United States and Latin America, but it is set apart by an exciting foundational ethos: Each year, the participants forming the festival’s annual cohort—chosen based on their work’s relation to the year’s theme and their commitment to cross-cultural engagement—are paired up to work on collaborative, multimedia projects in the months leading up to the gathering. Often working from varying artistic practices, these collaborators are pushed to experiment with new forms and techniques as they engage with the relevant theme, and together produce original, thought-provoking works that are unveiled to attendees, staff, and other members of their cohort at the Live Magazine Show finale, then later exhibited in Mexico City’s Museo Universitario del Chopo. Curiosity, play, and experimentation are at the heart of the festival, resulting in a stirring environment of reflection and learning that allows for the easy flow of ideas and opinions.
Originally conceived in 2012 after a series of events were planned for the release of MAKE Magazine’s “Exchange/Intercambio” issue—a bilingual edition whose aim was to draw attention to the dire lack of translated literature published in the United States—and formalized two years later through a grant from the MacArthur Foundation's International Connections Fund, Lit & Luz has been, since its inception, a collaborative effort to foster a dialogue between acclaimed writers and artists from Mexico and the US that transcends boundaries of language, forms, and nationality in its celebration of literature and artistic invention. Over the years, the festival has developed and grown, responding to changes occurring in both countries and adapting itself to ever-shifting circumstances. Whether it is asking the 2017-18 participants to think about the subject of “Belonging” and interrogate the ties binding them to their own countries or having them reevaluate the role of the literary arts in a world shocked by the coronavirus in last year’s “Revision”—themed gathering, the festival invites presenters to reflect on their own work and to relate it to both the year’s theme and their fellow participants’ oeuvre. It provides an opportunity for cohort members and audiences to consider new ways of approaching their literary and artistic interests, to forge meaningful connections with other creatives and recognize the incredible value and long-lasting impact of international collaboration.
Produced by MAKE Literary Production, Lit & Luz is one of several literary festivals seeking to promote cultural exchange between the United States and Latin America, but it is set apart by an exciting foundational ethos: Each year, the participants forming the festival’s annual cohort—chosen based on their work’s relation to the year’s theme and their commitment to cross-cultural engagement—are paired up to work on collaborative, multimedia projects in the months leading up to the gathering. Often working from varying artistic practices, these collaborators are pushed to experiment with new forms and techniques as they engage with the relevant theme, and together produce original, thought-provoking works that are unveiled to attendees, staff, and other members of their cohort at the Live Magazine Show finale, then later exhibited in Mexico City’s Museo Universitario del Chopo. Curiosity, play, and experimentation are at the heart of the festival, resulting in a stirring environment of reflection and learning that allows for the easy flow of ideas and opinions.
Originally conceived in 2012 after a series of events were planned for the release of MAKE Magazine’s “Exchange/Intercambio” issue—a bilingual edition whose aim was to draw attention to the dire lack of translated literature published in the United States—and formalized two years later through a grant from the MacArthur Foundation's International Connections Fund, Lit & Luz has been, since its inception, a collaborative effort to foster a dialogue between acclaimed writers and artists from Mexico and the US that transcends boundaries of language, forms, and nationality in its celebration of literature and artistic invention. Over the years, the festival has developed and grown, responding to changes occurring in both countries and adapting itself to ever-shifting circumstances. Whether it is asking the 2017-18 participants to think about the subject of “Belonging” and interrogate the ties binding them to their own countries or having them reevaluate the role of the literary arts in a world shocked by the coronavirus in last year’s “Revision”—themed gathering, the festival invites presenters to reflect on their own work and to relate it to both the year’s theme and their fellow participants’ oeuvre. It provides an opportunity for cohort members and audiences to consider new ways of approaching their literary and artistic interests, to forge meaningful connections with other creatives and recognize the incredible value and long-lasting impact of international collaboration.
Photo by Lisa Korpan
Live Magazine Show at the 2019 Lit & Luz festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Several of the most celebrated contemporary writers and artists from both countries have been part of previous cohorts—including Cristina Rivera Garza, Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, Andy Slater, Valeria Luiselli, Sara Uribe, Daniel Kraus, Mariana Oliver, and many more—participating in panel discussions, gallery shows, workshops, and readings open to the public. This festival cycle’s 2023-24 Collaboration Cohort is similarly innovative, featuring a dozen writers, artists, and performers hailing from (and often crossing) distinct disciplines:
Kicking off with REECOUNTERS/REENCUENTROS, an exhibition of the festival participants’ individual work at the Chicago Art Department, followed by a keynote address from poet and novelist Ana Castillo on October 14th, this year’s schedule includes a variety of invigorating events and conversations, among them an in-depth view of visiting artist Huehuecoyotl’s (Fernando Palma Rodríguez) artistic practices and influences; accessible, bilingual writing workshops each led by a participating poet and/or translator; a screening of audiovisual experimental works presented by previous years’ Collaboration Cohort participants; and a virtual talk between poet José Olivarez and English-to-Spanish translator David Ruano González, who collaborated on the former’s collection Promises of Gold. As it has over the past ten years, Lit & Luz promises to be a stimulating program for all those readers and creatives interested in the considered and joyful exchange of ideas.
Click here to listen to our podcast episode featuring Lit & Luz’s keynote speaker Ana Castillo.
For more information about the festival’s programming and event registration, visit litluz.org.
- Carrie Olivia Adams, poet and editor
- Laura Letinsky, multimedia artist and educator
- Alejandro Almanza Pereda, visual artist
- Galia Eibenschutz, artist, performer, and choreographer
- Flor Flores, transdisciplinary artist and poet
- Juan Martinez, fiction writer and educator
- Nancy García Loza, award-winning, self-taught playwright
- Maricela Guerrero, poet and author
- Fernando Palma Rodríguez, visual artist, engineer, and activist
- Adalber Salas Hernández, poet, essayist, and literary translator
- Edra Soto, artist, curator, and educator
- Isabel Zapata, essayist and translator
Kicking off with REECOUNTERS/REENCUENTROS, an exhibition of the festival participants’ individual work at the Chicago Art Department, followed by a keynote address from poet and novelist Ana Castillo on October 14th, this year’s schedule includes a variety of invigorating events and conversations, among them an in-depth view of visiting artist Huehuecoyotl’s (Fernando Palma Rodríguez) artistic practices and influences; accessible, bilingual writing workshops each led by a participating poet and/or translator; a screening of audiovisual experimental works presented by previous years’ Collaboration Cohort participants; and a virtual talk between poet José Olivarez and English-to-Spanish translator David Ruano González, who collaborated on the former’s collection Promises of Gold. As it has over the past ten years, Lit & Luz promises to be a stimulating program for all those readers and creatives interested in the considered and joyful exchange of ideas.
Click here to listen to our podcast episode featuring Lit & Luz’s keynote speaker Ana Castillo.
For more information about the festival’s programming and event registration, visit litluz.org.
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