Macondo Afternoon Seminars

The Macondo Writers Workshop is an association of socially-engaged writers working to advance creativity, foster generosity, and serve community. Founded in 1998 by writer Sandra Cisneros and named after the town in Gabriel García Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the workshop gathers writers from all genres who work on geographic, cultural, economic, gender, and spiritual borders. An essential aspect of the Macondo Workshop is a global sense of community; participants recognize their place as writers in our society and the world.

Afternoon seminars are free and open to the public!

4:30PM  -  6PM

Science and Technology Building

One University Way

San Antonio, Texas 78224

Wednesday- July 24th

Writing Children's Literature

*Amada Irma Pérez*

Amada Irma Pérez has been a bilingual educator, consultant and presenter for more than twenty-five years. Her teaching experience includes kindergarten through university. She is an advocate of programs that encourage literacy and multicultural understanding. She believes that better communication will lead to world peace. Amada Irma Pérez speaks at local, state, national and international conferences and inspires diverse audiences of students, teachers, parents, businesses and community organizations. Her children’s books include Nana's Big Surprise/Nana, Que Sorpresa!, My Diary
from Here to There/Mi Diario De Aqui Hasta Alla , and My Very Own Room/Mi Propio Cuartito



*René Colato Laínez*

Known as “the teacher full of stories,” René Colato Laínez is the Salvadoran author of several bilingual picture books including I Am René, the Boy/Soy René, el niño (Piñata Books), Waiting for Papá/Esperando a papá (Piñata Books), Playing Lotería/ El juego de la lotería (Luna Rising). I Am René, the Boy received the Latino Book Award for “Best Bilingual Children’s Book”. Playing Lotería was named a “Best Children’s Book” by Críticas magazine and the New Mexico Book Award “Best Children’s Book”. Playing Lotería and I Am René have both been nominated for the Tejas Star Book Award—the K-6 bilingual counterpart to the Texas BluebonnetAward.




Thursday- July 25th

The Author Editor Relationship


*Leslie Larson*
Leslie Larson grew up in San Diego, California, in a working class family. She is the author of Slipstream, which Dorothy Allison  called, “A genuinely startling novel that caught me up in the lives of people used to being looked past, over, or beyond.” The New York Times called her second novel, Breaking Out of Bedlam, “A kick.” Sandra Cisneros said, “Leslie Larson is a writer of tales that are hilarious and heart-breaking at once—no easy feat, but the
mark of great storytelling.” A veteran editor and copywriter for independent publishers, Leslie is the recipient of an Astraea Foundation Award and a Hedgebrook Writing Residency. She has taught writing nationwide and her work has appeared in O (The Oprah Magazine), Faultline, the East Bay Express, More, Writer, and the Women's Review of Books, among other publications. She
lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.



Friday- July 26th

Hitting Send: Literary Submissions Strategies


*Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera*

Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera is a Chicana Feminist and former Rodeo Queen. Her recent fiction appeared in Voices de la Luna, The Acentos Review, Chaleur Magazine, The Lunch Ticket, and Ghost Town. She is an alumna of AROHO Retreat, Macondo Writers Workshop, and Las Dos Brujas. She’s also an organizing member of Women Who Submit, editor at VIDA Review and Ricochet Editions, and a former high school English teacher. She earned an MFA at Antioch University and is currently working on her PhD in Creative Writing and Literature at USC.