Celebrating the literary journal Huizache in Los Angeles

Acclaimed author Dagoberto Gilb recently launched a literary journal dubbed Huizache with the assistance of the Centro Victoria for Mexican Literature, based at the South Texas campus of the University of Houston-Victoria.

The initial three issues featured a who’s who of Chican@ and Latin@ literature such as Juan Felipe Herrera, Sandra Cisneros, Gary Soto, Cristina García, Héctor Tobar, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Luis J. Rodriguez, Michele Serros, Rigoberto González, Alex Espinoza, Achy Obejas, Conrad Romo, and so many more.

The three covers have been adorned by powerful works from renowned artists Gronk (pictured above), Patssi Valdez and César A. Martínez.

Edited by author Diana López, Huizache features poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and “seeks works that challenge ethnic, gender, or social stereotypes, and though the magazine’s focus is Latino, it is not limited to it.” And as I noted in a recent La Bloga post, the third issue is now out and available for order. It is a fantastic issue and I urge you to support great literature, especially that created by Chican@ and Latin@ writers.

On January 11, Huizache was honored with food, music and (of course) literature at the beautiful Los Angeles home of novelist and Los Angeles Times writer, Héctor Tobar, and his wife, Virginia Espino, Ph.D., Series Leader, Latina & Latino History at the UCLA Center for Oral History Research. The evening was co-hosted by Dagoberto Gilb and Abel Salas, poet and publisher of Brooklyn & Boyle.

Those in attendance included many wonderful people including such literary luminaries as Ruben Martinez, Janet Fitch, Jervey Tervalon, Michael Jaime-Becerra, Daniel Chacón, Lalo Alcaraz, Yxta-Maya Murray, Dana Johnson, the poets Kenji Liu and Vicki Vertiz, Jessica Ceballos, Andrew Tonkovich (editor of the Santa Monica Review and host of Bibliocracy on KPFK), Lisa Alvarez (UCI and Squaw Valley Community of Writers), Carribean Fragosa of the South El Monte Arts posse, and Conrad Romo (host of the Los Angeles reading series, Tongue and Groove).

Below I post some images of the night’s festivities which I will allow to speak for the importance of supporting a literary journal such as Huizache. Remember: nothing shows support like subscribing, so after enjoying these photographs, click here and order. As Dagoberto Gilb noted during his moving (and funny) comments (a paraphrase): If we don’t support our own writers, how can we expect others to? And let me add that supporting writers of color would certainly be in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., right?

Dagoberto Gilb makes his pitch for Huizache.

Abel Salas, poet and publisher of Brooklyn & Boyle.

Co-host, Virginia Espino, and writer Daniel Chacón.

Writers Daniel Chacón and Héctor Tobar.

Héctor Tobar reads his poem from Huizache.

Conrad Romo reads his poem from Huizache.

Musical entertainment by singer-songwriter David Garza.

The crowd enjoys conversation, food and drink.

Writers Daniel Chacón and Michael Jaime-Becerra.

Andrew Tonkovich (editor of the Santa Monica Review) and author Lisa Alvarez.