Nuestra Palabra's Global Reading Series Houston, San Antonio, Austin.

Houston

The NP Global Reading Series

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The 2025 State of Latino Art

Testimonios

Poet Miriam Damaris Mardivino from her book Hamaca Blues.

Poet and visual artist Stalina Villarreal.

Armando Silva, Executive Director of the Latino Legacy Arts organization MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts).

Dave Cebrero, David Cortez, and Pedro Rivas founders of the Houston Latino Film Festival.

Deborah Lugo, Vice President of Programming and Education at the Hobby Center.

Moderator, writer Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, Founder & Director, Nuestra Palabra: Latinos Having Their Say.

Salima Bowaniya, Interim Manager & Hispanic Collections Lead Archivist

Carlos Duarte, ALMAAHH President.

San Antonio

Thursday Dec. 11, 2025

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM. Free.

Trinity University, Dicke Hall #104,

San Antonio, Texas 78212

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Lupe Mendez made his literary debut on the stage of Nuestra Palabra. He has gone on to become the Texas Poet Laureate. Prayer Holding Night: New & Selected Works forms part of TCU’s Poet Laureate Series. He is also the co-founder of Tintero Projects, the poetry editor for The Texas Observer, and Poetry Editor of Huizache.

Prayer Holding Night: New & Selected Works ranges from excerpts from Mendez’s collection. Why I Am Like Tequila to new poems featuring redacted poems based on real-life press releases that add profound meaning to press releases by Texas officials, to homages to Galveston and the ocean.

Kathryn Vomero Santos is Associate Professor of English at Trinity University, USA. She is a co-founder of the award-winning Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva and the co-editor of several books, including The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations en La Frontera (with Katherine Gillen and Adrianna M. Santos).

Shakespeare in Tongues interrogates the popular conflation of “the language of Shakespeare” with English by examining the role Shakespeare’s works have played in overlapping histories of colonialism, slavery, and migration that continue to shape the linguistic cultures of the United States.

Master of Ceremonies Professor Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, is one of the founder of the Librotraficante Movement. He the founder of Nuestra Palara: Latinos Having Their Say and the author of The Tip of The Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital and The Aztec Love God.

Chronicles the organizing fundamental to the Librotraficante Caravan, including opinion editorials, special reports, and personal testimonies.

Austin

Friday, Dec. 12, 2025

7 PM - 8:30 PM. Free.

Taano House 1109 E. 6th

Austin, Texas 78702

Dress Warm. Outdoor event.

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Featured Poet:

Lupe Mendez Prayer Holding Night: New & Selected Poems

Lupe Mendez served as Texas Poet Laureate. Prayer Holding Night: New & Selected Works forms part of TCU’s Poet Laureate Series. He is the poetry editor for The Texas Observer, Poetry Editor of Huizache, an d he teaches creative writing in Houston.

Master of Ceremonies

Profe Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante

Writer and activist Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, is a Cultural Accelerator. In 1998, he founded Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say (NP). He is the author of The Aztec Love God, and The Tip of the Pyramid.

Our partner Taano House is a kava bar/non-alcoholic botanical cocktail bar and psychoactive plant dispensary. Their focus is experiential alternatives to alcohol. They work with a wide variety of legal euphoric and relaxing plants and offer a full elixir menu as well as gummies and extracts.

Community Events

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Volunteer Opportunity

Do you want to find out more about how we bring literature into the community? Do you want to be the first to know what we are planning? Do you want to meet writers, artists, and make new friends? Volunteer for Nuestra Palabra. Say, sign me iupSend an email to: info@NuestraPalabra.org.