Poet Juania Sueños will open the event, our writer in residence Jorge Renaud will read from a selection of his work, and author and activist Darwin Hamilton will lead a discussion with Jorge and TAVP about the power of narrative in fighting for an end to mass incarceration and creating a world without state-sponsored violence. We'll be handing out free posters and zines, and our friends from Texas Harm Reduction Alliance and Resistencia Bookstore will be tabling. We'll also have a donation box for anyone who wants to bring a book for our partners at Inside Books Project.

We're looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones!

Photo: Poem by Jorge Antonio Renaud, image art and design by Hollis Hammonds, print by Mark Menjivar

More info about our line-up:

There are in fact musty copies of The Americas Review, Tonantzín, The Texas Observer, Revista Chicana-Riqueña, and other ‘zines with the poetry of Jorge Antonio Renaud, although he stopped submitting a long time ago. Y no pregunten por un libro. Jorge just celebrated 13 years of freedom and welcomes you to reach out and talk about poetry, writing in general, chicanx history, prison abolition and welcomes hints as to where he can find a sassy cat.

Juania Sueños is a Chicanx cursi. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Texas State, and other boring credentials given to her by institutions. She is bad at writing bios but good at finding strange objects on sidewalks and cuddling her Chihuahua, Chanchis. She is a cofounder and editor of the Infrarrealista Review, and current Fellow for the Center of the Study of the Southwest. She is working on a novel based on her family in hopes of highlighting the West’s impacts on Mexico.

Darwin Hamilton is a senior accountant, criminal justice activist, advocate, and author of the self-published memoir “25 Years Later: A Sentence from Crime to Redemption, Resilience, Advocacy and Leadership.” His op-eds have been published in The Austin American-Statesman and by the ACLU of Texas. He is the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors with Grassroots Leadership, and currently serves on the Oversight Board of Travis County's Public Defender Office, and the Advisory Boards of Inside Literature and San Antonio's Trinity University and UTSA Philosophy & Literature Circle. His personal mission is to change criminal justice policies and practices, and to reduce the shame and stigma of formerly incarcerated people.