Ciudad Ñ
The phenomenon of Chicago-based Latin American authors such as Francisco González Crussí, Marco Escalante, Raúl Dorantes, etc., has been overlooked by contemporary literary critics in the area. This is the case, perhaps, because it is a relatively recent movement that has been growing in the last 20 years. However, these authors have published their work both in the United States as well as in Spanish-speaking countries throughout these years, creating a network that has fostered a sense of community, while, at the same time, raising questions about what it means to be a Spanish-language author in the United States.
Our purpose is to promote a growing body of literature written in Spanish by Latin American authors. An event like this is especially relevant because, as the Spanish-speaking community grows and evolves in Chicago, so do our experience and challenges, which is the material many of our authors reflect on and write about. More importantly, this would be a great opportunity to inspire students of both Spanish and Spanish-language literature to get to know authors writing in their own language in person.
For more information, please visit our website.
Past events Heading link
12.º encuentro:
February, 20th from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Fernando Olszanski (Argentina). Ha vivido alternativamente en Escocia, Ecuador, Japón y pasado por varias ciudades de los Estados Unidos. De profesión educador, también es escritor, editor y artista visual. Es autor de la novela Rezos de marihuana, el poemario Parte del polvo, y los libros de cuentos El orden natural de las cosas y Rojo sobre blanco y otros relatos. Como editor ha compilado las antologías América Nuestra y Trasfondos, antología de narradores en español del medio oeste norteamericano, ambas galardonadas con el International latino Book Award. Fue director editorial de las revistas Contratiempo y Consenso, actualmente dirige la editorial Ars Communis. Reside en Chicago, Estados Unidos.
11.º encuentro:
December, 1st from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Bernardo Navia (Chile). His fiction has appeared in Pertenencia: Narradores sudamericanos en Estados Unidos (2017) and Trasfondos: Antología en español en el medio oeste norteamericano (2016). He is the author of Sin tregua y otros desórdenes urbanos (2010) and Doce muertes para una resaca (2001). Navia received his PhD in Latin American literature in 2002 from UIC, where he currently teaches.
10.º encuentro:
October, 25th from 5-6pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Julio Rangel (Mexico). His work has appeared in La densidad del aire, an anthology of five poets published by UNAM (Mexico). He is the author of “The Art Object of Marcos Raya”, which appeared in the book Marcos Raya: Fetishizing the Imaginary and Rational, a book about René Arceo’s artwork. Rangel is a cofounder of Contratiempo magazine in Chicago.
9.º encuentro:
April, 26th from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Febronio Zatarain (México) author of En Guadalajara fue, Veinte canciones en desamor y un poema sosegado and Febrónimos. He is a co-founder of “contratiempo” and the current coordinator of the magazine’s literary workshop. In 2015 he was awarded the Premio Latinoamericano de Poesía Transgresora in Mexico.
8.º encuentro:
April, 12th from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Martha Cecilia Rivera (Colombia) author of Fantasmas para las noches largas and La fatalidad de la gallina. Rivera is co-chair of the “Encuentro de Escritores Latinos de Chicago”. Her work has appeared in various anthologies in the U.S., Colombia and Spain. In 2013 she was awarded the Fuerza de la Palabra prize in Argentina.
7.º encuentro:
March, 15th from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Franky Piña (Mexico) author of Alfonso Piloto Nieves Ruiz: Sculpture. Piña has co-founded several cultural and literary magazines in Chicago, including “Tropel” and “contratiempo”. He is the executive director of El BeiSMan, a bilingual digital magazine. He is also chair of the Chicago Latinx Authors Encounter and Book Fair. His fiction has appeared in Se habla español: Voces latinas en USA and Voces en el viento: Nuevas ficciones desde Chicago.
6to encuentro:
November, 16th from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Rey Andújar (Santo Domingo) author of several works of fiction including Los gestos inútiles (Premio Alba Latinoamericano de Novela 2015-Cuba) Candela (Alfaguara – PR Pen Club Awards 2009); “Amoricidio” (FIL-Santo Domingo Fiction Award 2006) and “Saturnario” (Ultramar Literature Prize NYC-2010). He’s been researching the connection between body, language and literature for several years. His performance “Ciudadano Cero” made the Official Selection at the Santo Domingo International Theater Festival in 2006.
5to encuentro:
October, 19th from 4-5pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Juana Iris Goergen (Puerto Rico). Poet. Has published La sal de las brujas (finalist of Letras de Oro, Betania 1997), La piel a medias (2001), and “Las Ilusas/Dreamers” (Desarraigos, Vocesueltas, 2008). Her poetry appears in several national and international anthologies. She has edited the anthologies: Susurros para disipar las sombras (2012); Rapsodia de los sentidos (2013); Ciudad Cien (2014) and Toda la luz (2015) in (Erato ediciones: Festival de poesía/Poesía en Abril V, VI, VII and VIII). She is the initiator and co-organizer of the International Poetry Festival in Spanish: Poesía en Abril, in Chicago.
4to encuentro:
September, 21st from 5-6pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Marco Escalante, author of Malabarismos del tedio. Peruvian essayist and longtime Chicago resident, Marco Escalante’s work is a deeply philosophical exploration of various topics, such as film, literature, the visual arts, and philosophy. An avid reader of classic literature, his book of essays can be read as a dialogue with the authors that have influenced his own writings, such as Seneca, Plato, Cicero, Rousseau, and Chautebriand, among many others. Escalante is in the process of finishing a new book of essays entitled Residuos.
3er encuentro:
April, 27th from 5-6pm @ UIC Latino Cultural Center
om ulloa**, author of the blog “La Sonora Matancera”. Her work is regularly featured in current local magazines such as Contratiempo and El BeiSman. Her prose and poetry are playful pieces infused with a Caribbean cadence. Join us for the official launch of her book palabrerías aNalfabéticas!
2do encuentro:
April, 13th from 5-6pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Francisco González-Crussí*, author of El rostro y el alma. His vast literary corpus combines literature and science, and has appeared in the prestigious magazine Letras Libres as well as in The New York Times. It recently earned him the Merck Literary Prize.
1er encuentro:
March, 30th from 5-6pm @ Daley Library, Conference Room 1-470
Raúl Dorantes*, author of …Y nos vinimos de mojados, De zorros y erizos, and Bidrioz. Dorantes approaches, among other topics, the daily life of the undocumented population in Chicago. He is also an accomplished playwright whose works are regularly performed in different venues throughout the city.