Sententia Vera Cultural Hub is proud to partner with Nuestra Palabra, Latino Writers Having Their Say, to promote the Texas Tri-City Tour of Latino Literature following the trail blazed by The Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books.
The tour stops include Houston, Austin, and San Antonio featuring writers, visual artists, and musicians from each city and the Central American community.
Each stop also reflects the nuances of the Latino Community. Houston has the largest Central American population and the most governmental infrastructure for that community. Austin’s stop is less than half a mile from the state capitol building where gentrification is encircling the Mexican American Community. And San Antonio is the site of the only Latino Bookstore in Texas. Each stop is an oasis in book deserts surrounding Latino communities.
Salvadoran American poet Claudia Castro Luna will visit each stop to present her collection of poetry Cipota Under the Moon. It’s published by Tia Chucha Press from Los Angeles California founded by Los Angeles Poet Laureate, and gubernatorial candidate, Luis J. Rodriguez. Rodriguez’s books formed part of the Mexican American Studies curriculum banned in Arizona.
Each evening will be hosted by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, Literary Curator of the Latino Bookstore. He said,
“Book bans will not silence our community. Book deserts will not snuff out our voices. Our movement will continue to defy attacks on intellectual freedom. We are building on the trail we have blazed with the Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Now we are uniting three major Texas cities again, and we are uniting with our brothers and sisters from California. We will not rest until our community has full access to this Art, History, and Culture.”
Houston: Home of The Librotraficantes.
Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 6 pm. Free.
The Alta Arts
5412 Ashbrook Dr,
Houston, TX 77081
Austin:
Thursday, June 30, 2022, 6 pm. Free.
La Peña, Inc., site of the Librotraficante Under Ground Library in Austin.
227 Congress Ave.
Austin, Tx 78701
512.477.6007
San Antonio:
Friday, July 1, 2022, 6 pm. Free.
The Latino Bookstore
1300 Guadalupe
San Antonio, TX 78207
Part of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
About Nuestra Palabra, Latino Writers Having Their Say
Nuestra Palabra, Latino Writers Having Their Say promotes Latino literature and literacy.
About Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021), and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). Castro Luna’s newest collection of poetry is Cipota Under the Moon from Tia Chucha Press. She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press), the Pushcart-nominated Killing Marías (Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press). Her most recent non-fiction is in There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis (Vintage). Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children