{"id":194534,"date":"2026-03-04T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/?p=194534"},"modified":"2026-03-09T10:21:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:21:30","slug":"the-borderlands-conference-the-devide-where-we-come-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/community\/the-borderlands-conference-the-devide-where-we-come-together\/","title":{"rendered":"The Borderlands Conference: The Divide Where We Come Together"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
Michael Mejia hosted the first Borderlands Conference at the University of Utah after the idea came to him in 2016. Photo courtesy of Michael Mejia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Literature is one of the great tools of humanity. It is a form of communication that reminds us that tragedy and beauty exist simultaneously. For novelist and University of Utah professor Michael Mejia<\/strong><\/a>, these stories bring healing to an unnatural divide. The Borderlands Conference<\/em><\/a> celebrates Latino and Chicano stories by bringing together a diverse lineup of authors. This year will feature notable writers like Anthony Cody<\/a>, Edgar Garcia<\/a>, Raquel Gutierrez<\/a> <\/strong>and Clyo Mendoza<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“[The border is a] place where there are unresolved violences, but a space that also has this great potential for healing and creativity.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\"Four
(Clockwise) Latino and Chicano writer Anthony Cody, Edgar Garcia, Clyo Mendoza and Raquel Gutierrez. Photo courtesy of Alexander Ortega<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea for the Borderlands Conference <\/em>came in 2016 when a reading was held as part of a national movement of writers speaking out against anti-immigration rhetoric. Mejia recounts how one of the readers at that event, poet Natalie Scenters-Zapico<\/strong><\/a>, explained how little is actually known about the border community, despite people voicing strong opinions regarding immigration. That comment inspired him to host the first Borderlands Conference<\/em> at the University of Utah and invite Latino writers across the diaspora to share stories about their lived experiences as people from either side of the border. The intent was to inform people about the realities of the borderland community, through different perspectives and storytelling styles like fiction, non-fiction, poetry and more. Mejia says, \u201cThe focus of our conversations have been about the borderlands. Both the sort of traditional conflict and agitation that occurs at the border \u2026 the border as an open wound. The place where there are these sorts of unresolved violences, but that\u2019s a space that also has this great potential for healing and creativity.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cLatino stories are American stories, and if we want to value American stories then we should be valuing Latino stories.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is no question that with the current political climate stories like these are needed now more than ever. \u201cI have no doubt that our attendees will have plenty to say about not just what this current administration has done to make immigrants\u2019 lives harder and less safe, but thinking about ways that we as a community, both locally and nationally, can try to counter that,\u201d Mejia says. Mejia explains that the conference allows perspectives from both sides of the border to hone in on not just political and societal issues but also the art made around the border. \u201cIt\u2019s always been just a super fascinating conversation. There\u2019s a very different perspective on Mexican lives in the US than there are in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mejia, the borderlands signify \u201ca place of meeting \u2014 in which a variety of different ways of describing and thinking about the world and experience come together \u2026 the scholarly, the creative, the poet, the experimental, the more conventional.\u201d He finds it important that people are able to engage in these conversations in ways that best illustrate their worldview and cultivate a culture of exchange \u2014 a back and forth of ideas, similar to the traveling between the border. \u201cJust as it\u2019s been an educational experience for me, I wanted it to be an educational experience for our audiences, for Salt Lake generally.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“There\u2019s a very different perspective on Mexican lives in the US than there are in Mexico.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The main thing Mejia wants audiences to take away from the Borderlands Conference<\/em> is that \u201cLatino stories are American stories, and if we want to value American stories then we should be valuing Latino stories.\u201d By giving Latino voices a platform to express themselves, the history and connections between North America and Latin America become more prominent and can inform people\u2019s understanding of border culture and what it means to exist at the edge of an imaginary divide. The Borderlands Conference <\/em>reminds us that the land we currently live on was once part of Mexico and that even before Mexico and the U.S. were nations they were just one large piece of land. The connection still exists despite the divide certain rhetoric would lead us to believe, and by understanding that we can find new ways to move forward.<\/p>\n

The Borderlands Conference <\/em>takes place<\/a> March 19 and 20. The event will include readings from influential Latino writers such as and also a Q&A for both English and Spanish speakers.<\/p>\n

Read more about the literary community in SLC:
\nThe Art and Life of Alex Caldiero<\/a>
\nWriting Through Waves: Utah Japantown Advocates Welcome Poet Sawako Nakayasu<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Borderlands Conference informs people about the realities of the borderland community, through different perspectives and storytelling styles. … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":194633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[16988,340,12440],"tags":[14349,31692,25664,25665,6053,31691,30548,27078,4849,3135,31513,31695,3137,31694,6595,9333,31693,29233],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}