Luz at the Edge:
A Night of Music and Dance in Support of the Lit & Luz Festival
Saturday, August 8, 2026
8:00 PM
The Empty Bottle — 1035 N Western Ave, Chicago
Join us for a night of live music, poetry, performance, and dance at Chicago’s Empty Bottle.
With special guests: Cabeza de Chivo, artists Selina Trepp, Flor Flores, and Dj’s selective listening, Jordan Knecht, and Señor Eddy
Hosted by Disc Jacqui & Kost
Win artwork by Chicago luminaries and past Lit & Luz participants Alberto Aguilar, Cecilia Beaven, or Laura Letinsky while supporting cultural exchange!
Secure your tickets online or purchase in person at Luz at the Edge on August 8, 2026, at the Empty Bottle.
$25/ ticket. Purchases available online starting on July 15th.
Host Committee: Jessica Ann, Mariela Acuña, Elise Butterfield, Antonio Oliva Diaz, John H. Guevara, Sam Lewis, AlivÉ Piliado, Kathleen Rooney, Teresa Silva, Gibran Villalobos, and Zespo
On August 8, we will come together to celebrate Latinx culture and community in support of the artists, writers, and performers of Lit & Luz, as well as Make Lit's ongoing work to build bridges between Chicago and Mexico.
Artist ticket: $30
Lit & Luz Supporter (general admission): $40
GET YOUR TICKETS!
Your ticket purchase helps MAKE Lit continue fostering international exchange and multidisciplinary collaboration.
MAKE Lit is a non-profit organization that produces the international Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art, a one-of-a-kind series of events featuring renowned authors, artists, and musicians from Chicago and Mexico in cultural exchange and conversation. This series of readings, conversations, artist talks, and performances, including our signature event, the Live Magazine Show, highlights artistic collaborations and new translations —showcasing some of the most innovative contemporary artists from both countries. The festival takes place in Chicago in the fall, followed by the Lit & Luz Festival in Mexico City in the spring.
100% of ticket sales, raffle sales, and donations will go toward producing the Lit & Luz Festival and compensating the performing artists.
Your support fuels more than a festival; it sustains a transcultural ecosystem where writers, artists, and performers can create new work, build international networks, reach broader audiences, and build bridges.
All proceeds from this event benefit MAKE Literary Productions’ Lit & Luz Festival, which seeks to:
Foster international collaboration between artists and writers from Chicago and Mexico through the Collaboration Cohort—an interdisciplinary, low-residency program centered on the creation of new work through partnerships and travel.
Imagine and offer free, bilingual arts programming at accessible venues throughout Chicago and Mexico City.
Build dedicated audiences for contemporary Mexican literature and multidisciplinary art in Chicago, and likewise for Chicago literature and art throughout Mexico.
The 2026-27 Lit & Luz festival will return to Chicago Nov 8- Nov 13, 2026, bringing together artists, performers, musicians, poets, and writers from Chicago and Mexico around the theme of “Edge/Borde”. Participating artists in the festival's 13th edition will explore social, geographical, and linguistic limits through tensions at the “edge of space”. The weeklong festival programming will consider the complexities of official borders, as well as the ways in which soft and hard edges are constructed within cities and regions—and within artistic practices themselves—through language, culture, identity, and policy.
