We here at the Chicago Review of Books might be biased, but we believe Chicago’s literary scene is the best in the country. Not only is our city full of talented writers, there’s always something literary to do here. The city proper boasts more than 25 independent bookstores, ample live lit events, literary institutions like the American Writers Museum and the Newberry Library, and, of course, StoryStudio Chicago. With so many rich literary offerings, it can be hard to keep up. But here’s one you don’t want to miss: The annual Lit & Luz Festival is a one-of-a-kind literary event featuring renowned authors, musicians, and visual artists from Chicago and Mexico. The festival is underway now.
Lit & Luz begins with a weeklong series of events here in Chicago and will wrap up months later in Mexico City. It began last Saturday and yesterday Alejandra Oliva gave the keynote address, but you still have the rest of the week to attend one of the free events.
We caught up with a few of the festival’s participants, Javier Peñalosa M., Clyo Mendoza, and 2024-Chirby-finalist Diego Báez, to learn more.
Diego Báez says this festival is unique “in at least two ways. First, the collaborative aspect is unlike any artistic experience I’ve had. As a poet, I can easily fool myself into thinking that writing is a solitary act. But it’s not! Good writing requires community, whether it’s other writers and artists, readers, friends, or family. Now, Lit & Luz explicitly pairs writers with visual artists to stretch our respective creative capacities, and I’m here for it! Secondly, Lit & Luz brings artists physically together to create and enjoy art. The emphasis on cross-border, multilinguistic collaboration is truly radical. Especially after the worst of the pandemic, the act of transporting artists across the globe to work together cannot be understated. It really demonstrates the festival’s commitment to authentic, meaningful interaction among artists.”
This is Javier Peñalosa M.’s first time visiting Chicago and also the first time he’s attending Lit & Luz as a guest, but he’s no stranger to the festival—he’s pretty sure he went to the first iteration of the festival. “I have seen a lot of highly admired artists and friends being part of this. So, being part of the festival myself is—without exaggeration—an honor and a privilege. I’m also very excited about the collaboration project that I have with the extraordinary Zachary Nicol; sharing activities with Clyo Mendoza and a workshop I’ve prepared for the Cervantes Institute.”
This year’s festival theme is Saturation/Saturación, “inspired by the media landscape of both presidential elections taking place in the countries this year.” Clyo Mendoza says the theme “seems conducive for the times we live in, and conducive for the personal times I’m going through. I’m deeply moved by being able to share with other people, in other latitudes, who are interested in, united, sutured by the same thing. And the variations in language, English-Spanish, poetry-art, migration-state of stillness.”
With this year’s theme, participants will respond to pressing political issues confronting both the U.S. and Mexico, considering ideas such as absorption, intensity, and limitations. In this particular election year “where a lot of prejudice and fears seem to be flying around,” Javier Peñalosa M. says, “this is a reminder of our bond” and “an excellent way of witnessing how close, tight, and rich are the artistic exchanges between Mexico and the USA.”
One of the things that makes Lit & Luz so significant is after a week full of free events and writing workshops, the festival culminates on Saturday, November 2, with the Live Magazine Show at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, an artistic collaboration between festival participants (made up of writers and artists from US and Mexico).
The full schedule can be found on the event website, but here are two highlights of upcoming events, in addition to the Live Magazine Show:
Tuesday, October 29th, La hora de oro at The Whistler, 6-8pm
Join us for an evening of original poetry, storytelling, and music featuring artists from Mexico City and Chicago—during Lit & Luz’s magic hour at the Whistler, one of Chicago’s most magical cocktail bars. Hosted by Lit & Luz Partnerships & Sponsorships Coordinator Angelica Davila and MAKE Poetry Editor Joel Craig. Participants include Javier Peñalosa, Clyo Mendoza, and Irma Pineda.
Friday, November 1st, Pilsen Community Books, 5:30 pm
Clyo Mendoza & Javier Peñalosa will be in conversation about their respective titles with Lit & Luz Literary Arts Director Miguel Jiménez.
Clyo Mendoza says that what makes Lit & Luz special is “the cross-disciplinary focus, because writing definitely has more than one format and more than one form of enunciation. For me, it has been lovely to begin a process alongside another artist (Dianna Frid, textile artist) and to discover that, in the end, we’re both writing, only that we choose different materials to say what we need to. And stemming from that, the discovery that we’re both capable of flowing from one discipline to another and even of working with new materials, under the pretext of working together, has been, for me, an enormous gift from this festival. And I’d also note the enormous support and stability I’ve enjoyed as a mother traveling with her baby daughter—it seems to me a powerful political gesture on the part of the festival and its organization.”
Diego Báez urges Chicagoans to attend “because ours is one of only two cities in the world to host this amazing event! People who love poetry and live lit will enjoy an evening of strange new encounters with language. People who love visual art will get to witness firsthand the debut of groundbreaking performances from some of the planet’s most renowned artists.”
Javier Peñalosa M. adds the festival is “a unique bi-cultural encounter that gives a fair and celebratory place to the artistic dialogue between the USA and Mexico. Incredibly, with the amount of cultural exchanges between our countries, it seems to me that there’s not a lot of places nor festivals that promote encounters between artists and writers. The highlights of the relation between our countries are always on politics, electoral campaigns, stereotypes. Well, and food. But there’s always a continuous stream of exchanges that make our lives richer. Sometimes we don’t take the time to appreciate it, but I’m certain it happens all the time. And that’s where I think that the Lit & Luz Festival really stands out, it proposes and highlights a dialogue and a celebration of the community that we really are.”
Báez concludes by urging all Chicagoans to attend: “Chicago, don’t sleep on this! In a city with so many artistic, literary, and cultural opportunities, it can be tempting to ‘catch it next time.’ But Lit & Luz goes up for one night only! Unless you want to join us in Mexico City, as well. In which case, te veré allá!”
