Award-winning author and Las Cruces bookstore owner Denise Chávez will host a Zoom virtual talk/writing prompt session called “Writing Witness,” beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14.
During the session, Chávez will share the story of Libros Para El Viaje, an ongoing refugee book drive, and how this work led to her anthology, “We Are Here to Represent.”
The Zoom session will help guide writers who plan to submit work for the anthology, including giving them ideas on how to formulate, expand and clarify their stories and artwork, Chávez said. The session will include writing prompts and exercises that will help with the work.
The anthology is “a witnessing of the heart,” Chávez said. “It’s your story about your experience working with our refugee, migrant and asylum-seeking children, youth and families on the U.S./México border. These are not interviews or fictionalized imaginative interpretations, but deep reflections and testimonies by people who have worked with love to bring dignity and respect to the lives of our brothers and sisters, no matter how brief the encounter.”
To date, submissions to the anthology “have been powerful, potent, moving and frankly phenomenal,” Chávez said. “Submissions have been in English/Spanish/Spanglish and Portuguese. We welcome future submissions that may also include Indigenous languages, or any languages spoken by our families.”
Sunday, Jan. 31, is the deadline for anthology submissions, which should be sent in PDF format to comezon09@comcast.net.
Chávez’s book, Casa Camino Real, is located at 314 S. Tornillo St. in Las Cruces’ Mesquite Historic District.
Contact Chávez at 575-523-3988 and comezon09@comcast.net. Visit www.abebooks.com/casa-camino-real-las-cruces-nm, and find the bookstore on Facebook at Casa Camino Real Book Store & Art Gallery.
Visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJDNMkfEfJNmuTaiAESR_1xUl8yUiGxd7p17a3-bFTpsIaVg/viewform?usp=sf_link to register for the Zoom session. The deadline is 2 p.m., Jan. 13.
There is no cost to participate.
