.png)
​
​Summer 2025
Workshop happens
First two weekends of June:
June 7-8, and 14-15,
9am to 1pm Pacific Time
​Questions? Please email either
palabrasdelpueblo@mexicanos2070.com or scottrussellduncan@gmail.com
​
Midweek Presentation Open to Public
Wednesday June 11, 2025 7pm PST
Presentation info TBD
Summer Workshop Presentations
Presentations will happen for one hour before each class and will be addressed and engage all workshop participants. Summer Presenters to be determined, check back!
Summer 2025 Instructors
Lorna Dee Cervantes, Scott Russell Duncan, Juan G. Berumen, Ernesto Mireles, Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, Matt Sedillo, & Sonia Gutiérrez.
Summer 2025 Classes Offered
June 7-8, and 14-15
This intensive poetry workshop presents the whole enchilada of writing like the "best" Chicana poets, according to Indigenous New Mexican Chicana poet & literary critic, Prof. Cordelia Candelaria. Divided into the 4 phases of the Creative/Critical Process (GENeration/ SELection/ RE-Vision/ CRITical Evaluation) each session will introduce and explore Candelaria's four "I/ eye/ ¡ay!/ hay"s of a "good" Chicana poem. Focus will be on our work. All levels. Simon que sí es bilingual. (You need not be.) Be prepared to write. Be Brave. Be Real. Be Critical. Be There. Anywhere. ¿Y qué?
What is real? What is a story? Fiction is a way of playing with reality, shaping narratives that define our world and sense of being. Join Old California Strikes Back author SRD in an exploration of short fiction—microfiction, flash fiction, experimental pieces, and the traditional short story—while examining focus, structure, and what transforms a fragment or character sketch into a story.
​
Through a mix of discussion, writing exercises, and feedback, participants will develop their storytelling skills and experiment with new forms. More than just craft, this class explores how fiction strengthens and expands Xicanx being—how we collectively imagine, remember, and create stories as acts of resistance and connection, shaping a shared vision for the future. Open to new and beginning writers in English and Spanglish.
If you were to journey through the borderlands, what stories would you encounter? Would they be of curanderas driving lowriding hovercrafts exorcising those possessed by The Curse of El Mal Ojo?
For our gente, speculative fiction allows us the freedom to tell similar stories unfiltered without fearing the straitjacket while also envisioning wildly new worlds and possibilities
Crafting Nonfiction for Liberation
with Dr. Ernesto Mireles
​Dive into the transformative world of resistance literature and the fight for national liberation in the Insurgent Aztlán Workshop. Based on Ernesto Todd Mireles' work, this interactive session explores the role of cultural production in reclaiming identity, challenging oppression, and shaping revolutionary movements. Participants will examine how Xicana/o/x literature, film, music, and art confront colonial narratives, and foster collective will toward liberation. Through writing prompts, group discussions, and creative exercises, attendees will learn to connect cultural heritage to political identity, explore the principles of decolonization, and craft narratives that amplify resistance. Whether you're a writer, activist, or scholar, this workshop offers tools to deepen your understanding of insurgent culture and inspire impactful change. Join us as we analyze key thinkers like Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral, and learn to reframe history, ignite self-determination, and envision a liberated future. No prior experience required—just bring your passion for storytelling and transformation!
Comunicaciones Ancestrales: Escritores Multidimensionales
Ancestral Communications: Multidimensional Writers
(Class is conducted in Spanish)
with Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl
Comunicación Celestial:
Escritores Multidimensionales
Por medio de una serie de meditaciones, participantes aprenderán a abrir y a limpiar sus chakras o "totonalcayos" en el mundo de Nahualísmo. Ya alineados los totonalcayos, participantes aprenderán a conectarse con sus ancestros: revelando sabiduría ancestral, al femenino divino: desbloqueando la energía fundamental de la creación y la creatividad, y al masculino divino: descubriendo fuerza interior y aumentando auto-confianza. Al abrir las mentes y los corazones, participantes podrán viajar por una sin fin de mundos llenos de colores y visiones con el fin de capturar estas experiencias, iniciando nuevas escrituras - escrituras multidimensionales.
Celestial Communication:
Multidimensional Writers
Through a series of guided meditations, participants will learn how to open up and clear their chakras, or "totonalcayos" in the school of Nahualísmo. Once the totonalcayos have been aligned, attendees will learn how to connect with their ancestors: revealing ancestral wisdom, the divine feminine: unlocking the fundamental energy of creation and creativity, and the divine masculine: unveiling one's inner-strength and building our self-confidence. By opening the heart and clearing the mind, participants will be able to travel through an array of worlds filled with visions and vibrant colors all with the underlying purpose of documenting these experiences - the starting point for creating unique and personalized, multidimensional writings.
Poetry for Beginners and Beyond
With Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo
A generative poetry workshop for writers with any level of experience! Write multiple poems per session with Chicana poet, artist and founder of La Raíz Magazine, Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo. We'll spark ideas and inspiration with group discussions on topics relevant to Raza writers: identity, culture, language, social issues, resistance & liberation, women's rights, myths of masculinity, migration, personal experiences, and world events. Sample poetry and starter verses will be provided. Participants will be encouraged to present their poetry to the group and supported to prepare it for publication. Facilitated in Spanish, English, and Spanglish.
The Personal is Political with
With Matt Sedillo
The Personal is Political with Matt Sedillo
Join internationally renowned, world traveling poet Matt Sedillo as he guides workshop attendants to explore the events of their own lives as the product of broader historical forces. Using a multi prompt strategy Sedillo's simple but effective workshop ties the struggles of the individual to the struggles of the community while also arguing that no individual crisis can be truly solved without solving the crisis the community is facing. Your story is part of the bigger story of your people. Tell that story, awaken your people. The personal is political.
Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style
With Ernest Hogan
Ernest Hogan was born in East L.A. during the Atomic Age and his mother’s maiden name is Garcia. His 40 years of writing and publishing science fiction and other strange things have caused some call him the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, though there has not yet been a DNA test.
​
Come, learn his gonzo techniques to use the weirdness of the Latinoid Continuum in your writing, and how to market yourself to the Anglo-centric publishing industry, use the social media for self-promotion, as well as hear outrageous--sometimes hair-raising--firsthand anecdotes of living a professional writer’s life.
He will also answer your questions, wants this to be an interactive experience, hopes to learn a few things himself, and maybe even get his mind blown.
​
During the course of the workshop, he will start and write a story, sharing how he does it (it will get gonzo), and help the students do the same.
Then we will all set our creations loose on an unsuspecting world . . .
In this workshop, you will be learning the essential components of writing an effective vignette, a cuentito, similar to the award-winning literary texts, such as Tomás Rivera’s . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra / . . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, and Sonia Gutiérrez’s Dreaming with Mariposas. Your linguistic heritage—an Indigenous language, English, español, and/or Spanglish—is welcomed in this workshop. Be ready to write passionately and a la brava, by sharing your literary gems at the end of Sonia Gutiérrez’s workshop.