Events
Join Jasminne as she shares work from her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas and her YA memoir Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican American. More details to come!
Join Jasminne, Raina Leon and Yesenia Montilla for Mujeres Monday at LibroMobile.
"Mujeres Monday: A reading series for all who identify as womxn, where they can hang their hats, labels, and media headlines at the door in order to embrace an evening of literary inspiration from diverse authors — while sharing culinary delights, empowerment, and joy in our daily lives."
Torch Literary Arts is pleased to host an evening of poetry with Jasminne Mendez to celebrate her poetry collection City Without Altar. Please join us at BookWoman book store in Austin, TX. Q&A and book signing to follow the reading.
Join the English Department of the University of Houston-Downtown campus in welcoming Jasminne Mendez and her new book City Without Altar. Reading, Q&A and a book signing to follow.
The Institute for Latino Studies and the Initiative on Race and Resilience present Afro-Latinx Poetry Now, September 27–28, 2022, at the University of Notre Dame's McKenna Hall Conference Center.
The six sessions that make up this two-day gathering will strive to create space to center Blackness within the literary community. The visiting poets will be joined by six scholars, who will each illuminate the poets’ oeuvre, respectively, at two sessions. In addition to performing their poems at evening sessions, the poets will each deliver talks on an Afro-Latinx poet of their choosing. In all, then, the work of twelve artists will be celebrated. These in-person sessions will be live-streamed and recorded for maximum amplification.
Join us for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Bookstore’s Texas Reading Series. Jasminne will read selections from her book City Without Altar and there will be a signing afterwards,.
Join me at Garza Studios for the book launch of my poetry collection City Without Altar!
Featured readers.
Wine and cookies.
Music and poetry.
Books for sale and singing afterwards.
Milagro is proud to produce the world premiere of City Without Altar by award winning, Dominican-American playwright, Jasminne Mendez. City Without Altar is a two-act play in verse that amplifies the voices and experiences of victims, survivors and living ancestors of the 1937 Haitian Massacre that occurred along the northwest Dominican/Haitian border during the Trujillo Era.
In City Without Altar, the audience finds themselves between the present and the 1930’s on the Haitian-Dominican border, in a time and place where ‘where are you from?’ is a question of life or death. This play follows a Haitian family in their struggle to hold onto their sense of home, culture, and body as the looming shadow of genocide theatens to strip them of everything.
Told entirely in verse, this piece of theatre takes the form of a poetic ritual, transforming the stage itself into an altar where the spirits of the Parsley Massacre victims can once again have a voice. Featuring a diverse and colorful collection of characters—from the wise, healer grandma Madame Telsaint, to the wounded Maria, to the embodiment of violence simply named Machete—the cast of City Without Altar guides the audience through a reflection of pain and grief and leads them to a resolution where closure, joy, and moving on is finally possible.
City Without Altar will be partnered with Community Artes events highlighting and celebrating Dominican and Haitian culture. More information can be found on each events page.
Sometimes, moving outside yourself is the hardest part.
Stepping outside of your story and connecting it to larger universal themes is one of the most difficult aspects of writing personal narratives. And if you have a unique story that you can’t find on the shelf, it can be even harder to figure out how to make sure readers will resonate with your work. In this class, we will look at examples of authors who have unique stories and how they turned those individual and unique experiences into stories with a universal appeal. We will engage in creative writing prompts that will help tease out the universal themes in our work while not losing sight of the individual lived experiences that make each of us unique.
TAKE THIS CLASS IF
You’re writing a memoir or personal essays.
You want to make your personal stories more accessible.
You aren’t sure if your stories will resonate with other people and want to learn how it’s done.
The deadline to register for this class is Friday, April 15 at 5:00 PM CDT.
Join me for an online event that will feature an afternoon of poetry, readings and a performance that focuses on the intersections of race, identity, culture, disability and gender. I will be sharing “old” and “new” work!
Times listed are CST
How have Latinx writers illuminated the ways that the future and the past--the traumas, technologies, and transformative knowledges-- live on in our bodies? What new forms of language are Latinx poets creating that shape and decolonize prevailing concepts of disability, justice, and embodiment itself?
This evening of readings and conversation showcases four CantoMundo poets whose work takes part in the literary tradition of and forges new pathways within Latinx disability justice.
Featuring: Ire’ne lara silva, Jasminne Mendez, Sheryl Luna and Urayoán Noel
Times listed are CST
You've heard it before: "writing is re-writing." Our panel of authors wouldn't want their rough drafts to ever see the light of day, yet their finished books shine. Learn strategies for revising your first drafts into work that you'll want to parade in public. Sponsored by Penguin Random House
Featuring: HE Edgmon, Harper Glenn, Carole Lindstrom, Jasminne Mendez, Sandra SG Wong. Moderated by: Mara Delgado Sanchez.
Join us for an in person book launch of Jasminne’s debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas! Get yourself an early copy with this early release event!
MORE DETAILS SOON!
It’s a DOUBLE BIRTHDAY PARTY! Jasminne wants you to join her, Word Up Bookstore and Dominican Writers Association on her birthday - November 6th for the birthday of her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas.
MORE DETAILS SOON!
Jasminne will be on a panel with Meg Medina and Cristina Arreola, discussing her essay “Aliayo” in the YA anthology Wild Tongues Can’t be Tamed. MORE DETAILS SOON!
The Health Equity Lens: Latinos and the Pandemic
Mi Gente through the Ages: A plática with several wise Latinas/xs about intergenerational and intersectional concepts of identities.
*Register in advance for this event at https://bit.ly/2XVlF41
Jasminne Mendez ‘s Workshop: The Best of Both Worlds: Welcoming Poetry and Poetic Elements into Your Prose
Taos, New Mexico, has long been a haven for the creative soul. Since the arrival of literary notables Willa Cather and D.H. Lawrence in the early twentieth century, literature has played a prominent role in the area’s rich cultural landscape. As the literary arts flourished, the need for formal community support became apparent, which ultimately led to the nonprofit incorporation of SOMOS, the Society of the Muse of the Southwest, in 1983.
Since then, we have expanded into our present role as a respected literary resource center whose outreach extends to the greater community of Northern New Mexico— and beyond. Our live readings, workshops, conferences, and festivals not only showcase accomplished writers but also encourage creativity in novice writers from all walks of life. Our e-newsletter will keep you informed about literary events and writers’ opportunities; sign up now .
SOMOS is a membership organization. The generosity of our supporters allows us to honor our commitment of presenting the very best of the literary arts to the Taos area at little or no cost when possible. We cordially invite you to join us in answering the call of the Muse of the Southwest.
MISSION STATEMENT: We support and nurture the literary arts, written and spoken, by providing both place and resources for writers, readers, and learners while honoring the cultural diversity of Taos and the Southwest.
Learn more at www.somostaos.org
Jasminne Mendez is a performance poet, actress, teacher and published writer. She has performed her poetry in venues all around Houston including the MFAH, Rice and the Alley Theatre. She has shared the stage with respected writers and poets including Sandra Cisneros and Taylor Mali. She has been published both nationally and internationally by Arte Public Press and Flash: The International Short Story Magazine out of England.
