Classes
¡Bilingual Poets Get Published!
Write new poems Chicana-style and get them published! Facilitator Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo will guide participants to write poetry, workshop their writing, and prepare their poetry for publication in literary journals, and the group will send poetry to calls for entry. The workshops include an overview of poetic devices and an overview of preparing a manuscript for publication. Writing in Spanglish is encouraged! For writers of any level: emerging & published poets looking to generate new poetry and get it published.
Comunicaciones Ancestrales: Escritor@s Multidimensionales (Bilingual) with Diosa X
Through a series of semi-guided meditations, the use of oracle cards, and application of Totlec exercises and practices, participants will learn how to open up and clear their totonalcayos or chakras in order to dive deep into the present moment as well as delve into other dimensions. Participants will be able to travel through an array of worlds filled with visions and vibrant colors all with the underlying purpose of documenting these experiences, the starting point for creating unique and personalized, multidimensional writings.
Por medio de una serie de meditaciones semi-guiadas, cartas de oráculos y aplicación de ejercicios y prácticas Toltecas, participantes aprenderán como abrir y limpiar sus totonalcayos o chakras para poder entrar más a fondo en el aquí y ahora al igual que profundizar en otras dimensiones. L@s participantes viajarán por un sinfín de mundos llenos de visiones y colores vibrantes con el fin de poder capturar y documentar esas experiencias, y de tal manera, descubrir nuevas escrituras – escrituras únicas y personalizadas, escrituras multidimensionales.
Crafting Nonfiction for Liberation with Ernesto Mireles
Dive into the transformative world of resistance literature and the fight for national liberation in the Insurgent Aztlán Workshop. Based on Ernesto Todd Mireles’ work, this interactive session explores the role of cultural production in reclaiming identity, challenging oppression, and shaping revolutionary movements. Participants will examine how Xicana/o/x literature, film, music, and art confront colonial narratives, and foster collective will toward liberation. Through writing prompts, group discussions, and creative exercises, attendees will learn to connect cultural heritage to political identity, explore the principles of decolonization, and craft narratives that amplify resistance. Whether you’re a writer, activist, or scholar, this workshop offers tools to deepen your understanding of insurgent culture and inspire impactful change. Join us as we analyze key thinkers like Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral, and learn to reframe history, ignite self-determination, and envision a liberated future. No prior experience required—just bring your passion for storytelling and transformation!
Speculative Fiction from Nepantla with Juan G. Berumen
If you were to journey through the borderlands, what stories would you encounter? Would they be of freedom fighting curanderas cruising lowriding hovercrafts, exorcising spirits possessed by the curse of El Mal Ojo?
Speculative Fiction from Nepantla explores how speculative storytelling can emerge from the in-between spaces of identity, history, and imagination. Drawing on the Chicana feminist concept of nepantla—a liminal space of transformation—this workshop invites participants to develop screenplays that reimagine reality through elements such as horror, magical realism, futurism, and alternate histories. From haunted deserts to liberated futures, participants will experiment with crafting characters and worlds shaped by displacement, survival, and possibility through guided prompts and discussion. In these workshops, we explore how storytelling from nepantla allows us to break the straitjacket of dominant narratives and use speculative fiction to (re)imagine worlds where our communities thrive, transform, and envision new futures on screen.
Xicanxfuturism Comics Workshop
This creative workshop facilitated by Dr. E.C.-Dukes and Ronnie Dukes of DUKEScomics invites participants to explore comics as a space where ancestral roots and future imagination meet. Through writing and drawing prompts, creators will generate new ideas and experiment with visual storytelling inspired by identity, culture, and possibility. Together we’ll create comics that honor our histories while imagining bold, vibrant futures for our communities. No experience necessary.
Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style
Ernest Hogan was born in East L.A. during the Atomic Age and his mother’s maiden name is
Garcia. His 40 years of writing and publishing science fiction and other strange things have
caused some call him the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, though there has not yet been a
DNA test.
Come, learn his gonzo techniques to use the weirdness of the Latinoid Continuum in your
writing, and how to market yourself to the Anglo-centric publishing industry, use the social
media for self-promotion, as well as hear outrageous–sometimes hair-raising–firsthand
anecdotes of living a professional writer’s life.
His will also answer your questions, wants this to be an interactive experience, hopes to learn a
few things himself, and maybe even get his mind blown.
During the course of the workshop, he will start and write a story, sharing how he does it (it will
get gonzo), and help the students do the same.
Then we will all set our creations loose on an unsuspecting world . . .