About this Event
In English with live Spanish to English interpretation
Join us at Pilsen Community Books for the closing event of the 2026 festival week — a reading and conversation with Marina Azahua and Karen Villeda, two of the most compelling voices in contemporary Mexican literature.
Reading from Azahua’s novel Archivo agonía (Sexto Piso, 2025) and Villeda’s poetry collection String Theory, translated by NAFTA (Cardboard House Press, 2025), the authors will explore the intersections of storytelling and grief, and the forms that memory takes.
The reading will be followed by a conversation with Lit & Luz Book Club host Angélica Julia Dávila and Mexican literature PhD student Alejandro Mendoza Díaz De León on the authors’ writing processes, the relationship between language, grief, and feminisms.
Stick around afterward for a book signing with both authors!
Presented in partnership with Pilsen Community Books.
Listas y cartas: Una conversación con las autoras Marina Azahua y Karen Villeda
Acompáñanos en Pilsen Community Books para el evento de clausura de la semana del festival 2026: una lectura y una charla con Marina Azahua y Karen Villeda, dos de las voces más destacadas de la literatura mexicana contemporánea.
A partir de la novela Archivo agonía de Azahua (Sexto Piso, 2025) y el libro de poesía Teoría de cuerdas de Villeda, traducido por NAFTA (Cardboard House Press, 2025), las autoras explorarán las intersecciones entre la narración y el duelo, así como las formas que adopta la memoria.
Tras la lectura, seguirá una conversación con Angélica Julia Dávila, presentadora del club de lectura Lit & Luz, y Alejandro Mendoza Díaz De León, estudiante de doctorado en literatura mexicana, sobre los procesos de escritura de las autoras, la relación entre el lenguaje, el duelo y los feminismos.
¡Quédate después para la sesión de firma de libros con ambas autoras!
Presentado en colaboración con Pilsen Community Books.
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The 13th annual Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art—as featured in, WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons, Chicago Review of Books, Block Club Chicago, and more—takes place November 8 to November 14, 2026. Lit & Luz is a one-of-a-kind, cross-cultural and multilingual festival, bringing together renowned writers, visual artists, performers, and musicians from Mexico and Chicago for a week-long series of public programming at venues throughout Chicago.
Organized this year under the theme of “Edge/Borde” artists and writers will gather to present their work with performances, artist talks, writing workshops, poetry readings and panel discussions to consider the complexities of official borders, as well as the ways in which soft and hard edges are constructed within cities and regions—and within artistic practices themselves—through language, culture, identity, and policy
To learn more, visit litluz.org
Event venue & nearby stays
Pilsen Community Books, 1102 West 18th Street, Chicago, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.