Juntando Orillas: Bridging Afro-Diasporic Voices Through Literature

Building on a partnership between two cultural initiatives, this panel will discuss the tensions between distinction and community, collectivization and individuality, and the balance between pluralities and connections in cultural programming designed to foster encounters among Afro-diasporic identities.

The Guild Literary Complex and Motete are grassroots organizations dedicated to the cultural rights of underrepresented communities in Chicago and Chocó, Colombia. Through public readings, festivals, and book clubs, they promote authors and foster community engagement. Earlier this year, a group of U.S.-based writers selected by the Guild visited Colombia for FLECHO (the Chocó Reading and Writing Festival), organized by Motete in the predominantly Black region of Chocó. During the festival, the writers led workshops, gave poetry readings, and participated in discussions on Afro-diasporic experiences, cultural programming, migration, and children’s literature. This partnership also launched the “Juntando Orillas” (Bridging Shores) program, focused on sharing experiences between cultural organizations with similar goals and creating spaces where literature fosters exchange. 

The conversation will feature Andrea Change, poet and executive director of the Guild Literary Complex; Velia Vidal, writer, director of Motete, and co-curator of Colombia’s Museo Afro; Kianny Antigua, writer, translator, and professor; They will be in dialogue with Christian Vásquez, PhD candidate and FLECHO’s programming coordinator.

This program is co-sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program, the Spanish & Portuguese department, the Latina & Latino Studies Program, the Black Studies Department, and the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities of Northwestern University.

Bilingual event in English and Spanish.

Lunch will be served.

This event is hybrid and people may also attend by Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/99751803419