Previous Festivals

Founded in 2014, the Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art takes place in the fall in Chicago and in the winter in Mexico City.

Lit & Luz CDMX 2020

The second part of the Lit & Luz festival’s “Movement” cycle featured more ten bilingual events throughout Mexico City, including conversations, film screenings, live storytelling, and much more. Check out the schedule, participants, and press release.

Lit & Luz Chicago, October 2019

The sixth annual Lit & Luz festival’s theme, “Movement,” asks the participants and audience to consider migration, social movements, and bodies in motion. It features more than two dozen free bilingual events, including conversations, film screenings, live storytelling, and much more. Check out the schedule, participants, live show info, and press release.

Lit & Luz Mexico City, February 2019

Featuring the Chicago 2018 participants! With new events and additional guests, including poet and musician Alejandro Albarrán and poet Carla Faesler. Check out the schedule and full list of participants.

Lit & Luz Chicago, October 2018

This year’s theme, “Assembly,” asks us to consider the parts we put together and those we play. Art can be created by building a sentence, a canvas, an object, and when we unite as a community of voices. Check out the schedule, participants, live show info, and press release.

Lit & Luz Mexico City, February 2018

Featuring the Chicago 2017 participants! With new events and additional guests, including Emmanuel del Real of Café Tacvba and poet Jimena González. Check out the schedule and press release.

Lit & Luz Chicago, October 2017

This year’s festival theme, "Belonging,” asks participants and audience to consider what makes us part of a community, a city, a country? The festival boasts a stellar line-up of Mexican writers and artists, including Cristina Rivera Garza, Aura Xilonen, Eduardo Rabasa, Carla Faesler, Amalia Pica, and Brenda Lozano, with Chicago-based participants Danny Giles, Jac Jemc, Nate Marshall, Coya Paz, Erika L. Sánchez, and Selina Trepp, and many others! Check out the schedule, participants, live show info, and press release.

Lit & Luz Mexico City, February 2017

Featuring the Chicago 2016 participants! With new events and additional guests, including Diego Rabasa, Julieta Venegas, and more. Click here for events and participants.

Lit & Luz Chicago, October 2016

Themed "Anti-Static/Motion," the 2016 festival featured over eleven events with writers and artists including Guadalupe Nettel, Daniel Saldaña-París, Gabriela Jauregui, Jorge Méndez-Blake, and many more. Click here for the full list of events and participants.

Lit & Luz Mexico City, February 2016

Mexico City-based writers shared works in progress at Casa Refugio and Museo Tamayo. Participants included Juan Villoro, Margo Glantz, Mario Bellatin, Miguel Calderón, and many more. Click here for the official poster, with line-up and events.

Lit & Luz Chicago, November 2015

This "mini" festival hosted novelist Mario Bellatin and poet Luis Felipe Fabre, as well as festival co-organizer, Brenda Lozano. The writers were joined by Chicagoans Adam Levin, Duriel Harris, Daniel Borzutzky, Gerardo Cárdenas, as well as Joyelle McSweeney. Plus Elastic Arts Foundation musicians and more. Click here for events and other info.

Lit & Luz Mexico City, February 2015

That time we went to Mexico City, for the first performance. With Daniel Borzutzky, Joel Craig, Kathleen Rooney, Fred Sasaki, Martin Seay, Marvin Tate, and special guest Luis Felipe Fabre.

Lit & Luz Chicago, October 2014

MAKE Literary Productions introduces the inaugural Lit & Luz Festival with the theme of "Archive," featuring Valeria Luiselli, Luis Felipe Fabre, Susana Iglesia, Brenda Lozano, Luis Felipe Fabre, Aguillón-Mata, Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Alejandro Almanza Pereda, Daniel Borzutzky, Mauricio Tenorio, Moira Pujols, Tania Candiani, Joel Craig, Kirsten Leenaars, Kathleen Rooney, Fred Sasaki, Marvin Tate, Irvine Welsh, Adam Burke, Ruth Guerra. Through readings, performances, visual art, and the 2014 theme “Archive,” the participants will explore both Chicago and Mexico City’s historical contexts; how we document our lives and our culture in a digital age; and translation between language and artistic mediums. Click here for the event line-up. Check out the poster here.

Exchange/Intercambio Chicago, October 2012

The precursor to Lit & Luz. We were just getting started.