Meet The Authors: Lupe Mendez & Jasminne Mendez
Free Poetry. Books to Buy. A Night of Literary Arts!
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Galveston Artists Residency
2521 Mechanic Row - Galveston, TX 77550
7-8:30p
Meet award-winning poets, and literary power-couple, Lupe and Jasminne Mendez as they present their new books PRAYER HOLDING NIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Lupe Mendez and THE STORY OF MY ANGER by Jasminne Mendez as part of the NP Global Reading Series, brought to you in part by the Brown Foundation. This is a Big Read Kick-Off Session. Free admission. Order exclusive signed copies at www.NuestraPalabra.org.
Nuestra Palabra (NP) will provide book sales of PRAYER HOLDING NIGHT and THE STORY OF MY ANGER and other titles. Meet Lupe and Jasminne after the reading. Take a pic with them! Get copies of Lupe's book for your family library and donate a copy to one of our underground libraries.
Lupe Mendez has over 20 years of experience as a performance poet - having opened up for notable writers as Dagoberto Gilb, Esmeralda Santiago, U.S. Poet Laureates, Juan Felipe Herrera and Ada Limon and legendary writers such as the late Raul Salinas.
Jasminne Mendez is a best-selling Dominican-American poet, translator, playwright, and award-winning author of several books for children and adults. Including the middle-grade novel in verse, Aniana del Mar Jumps In (Dial), which received a 2024 Pura Belpré Honor Award. Her other books have received prizes from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Writer's League of Texas, and the International Latino Book Awards. She is an MFA graduate of the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumnus. Her YA fiction debut, The Story of My Anger (Dial), will be released in September 2025.
Master of Ceremonies: Professor Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, founder of Nuestra Palabra. Author of THE TIP OF THE PYRAMID: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital.
The stellar line up celebrating Lupe & Jasminne Mendez includes:
ISSAC LOPEZ'S credits include STAGES (JQ/Roderigo/Bianca/Loco Vito), TAMUCC Theatre: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Melvin P. Thorpe), House Bill 3979
Amendment #10: The Life & Works of Héctor P. García (World premiere) (Héctor Pérez). Harbor Playhouse: In the Heights (Usnavi). COM Theatre: Peter and The Starcatcher (Black Stache), The Voice of the Prairie (Leon Schwab). BA in Theatre
with a focus on Acting/Directing: Texas A and M University of Corpus Christi. AA in theatre: College of the Mainland. Issac is thrilled to continue his professional Acting career right here in Houston. Born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Mexico) and raised in the outskirts of Houston, this is where his love for theatre began.
LEANDRO SALAZAR is an Actor/Writer/ Director holding a BFA from the University of Houston. He recently debuted at the Alley Theatre’s world premiere of December: a love years in the making. Leandro started his poetry journey with Coogslam at UH and debuted at Tintero Projects. As an actor he’s performed at Main Street, Teatrx, Stages, Classical Theatre Compa
Nuestra Palabra: Latinos Having Their Say is organizing this event and a proud recipient of a Big Read Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
First 100 attendees who RSVP via Luma and check in that evening receive a free copy of the poetry anthology YOU ARE HERE: Poetry in the Natural World, edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. A book talk will follow.
Brought to you in part by a grant from the National Endowment for The Arts.
Additional sponsors:
The BIPOC Arts Network and Fund - (BANF)
The Brown Foundation
The Law Office of Carolina Ortuzar-Diaz, PLLC
Galveston Artist Residency
Que Onda Magazine
