Lit & Luz 2026 Keynote Address with Karen Villeda

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Join us at Haymarket House for the Lit & Luz Festival's 2026 Keynote Address on this year's theme, Edge/Borde, by poet Karen Villeda.

How do the arts and literature reveal the presence and impact of edges, borders, and limits? In this address titled "Algo y alguien, ella y su cuerda" / "Something and Someone, Her and Her Rope," Villeda will debut a new text and selected excerpts from her recently translated poetry collection String Theory / Teoría de cuerdas (Cardboard House Press, 2025), exploring the thresholds between silence and speech and the role of poetry in navigating what lies between.

After the address, Villeda will be joined by scholar Andrea Reed-Leal for an intimate conversation on her writing, followed by a book signing and reception to celebrate the festival week.

This address will be in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation.

This event is presented in partnership with the Lit & Luz Festival, UIC's Center for Latinx Literature of the Americas and Haymarket House.

Acompáñanos a la conferencia magistral del festival Lit & Luz 2026 en el Haymarket House, a cargo de la poeta Karen Villeda, abordando el tema central del festival: Edge/Borde.

¿Cómo revelan las artes y la literatura la presencia y el impacto de los bordes, las fronteras y los límites? En esta conferencia titulada "Algo y alguien, ella y su cuerda" / “Something and Someone, Her and Her Rope”, Villeda presentará un texto inédito y fragmentos seleccionados de su reciente poemario titulado String Theory / Teoría de cuerdas (Cardboard House Press, 2025).

Después de la conferencia, Villeda será acompañada por la académica Andrea Reed-Leal en una conversación íntima sobre su proceso de escritura, seguida de una firma de libros y una recepción para celebrar el inicio de la semana del festival.

La conferencia se impartirá en español y contará con traducción simultánea al inglés.

Este evento se presenta en colaboración con el Festival Lit & Luz, el Center for Latinx Literature of the Americas de la UIC y Haymarket House.

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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