We were lucky to catch up with Lupe Mendez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lupe, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
No, actually – I can safely say that everything happened/happens as its supposed. My day job informs my art work and my art work informs my activism and my activism informs my art and and my job as an educator.
Lupe, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I think my bio says it best;
Originally from Galveston, TX, Lupe Mendez (Writer//Educator//Activist) is the author WHY I AM LIKE TEQUILA (Willow Books, 2019), winner of the 2019 John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters. He is the founder of Tintero Projects which works with emerging Latinx writers and other writers of color within the Texas Gulf Coast Region, with Houston as its hub. Lupe earned his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Texas @ El Paso and his work can been seen in print and online formats including the Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast Journal, the Texas Review, the L.A. Review of Books, Split This Rock, Poetry Magazine and Poem-A-Day from the Academy of American Poets. Mendez is the 2022 Texas Poet Laureate. Follow Lupe on Instagram, TikTok & Twitter at @thepoetmendez.
Mendez has close to 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. He has shared his poetry across the country in places like the Holocaust Museum Houston, the Jung Center, MECA (Houston,TX), the Mission Cultural Center For Latino Arts (San Francisco,CA), the National Hispanic Cultural Center (Albuquerque,NM) the Mexican American Cultural Center (Austin,TX), and Columbia University, (New York, NY). Mendez has served as a keynote speaker/poetry performer all across Texas. He has hosted writing workshop opportunities across the country, most recently as a teaching artist for the Poetry Foundation (Chicago, IL) as it hosts its Teacher Poetry Summits in MIami, FL and Chicago, IL.
Lupe is an internationally published writer with prose work in Latino Rebels, Houston Free Press, Aster(ix) Journal, the Kenyon Review, Norton’s -Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short Stories From The United States and Latin America, and Flash (University of Chester, England)- the international forum for flash fiction, as well as poetry that appears in The Bayou Review (University of Houston-Downtown), Huizache, Luna Luna Magazine, Pilgrimage, the Texas Review, Glass Poetry Journal, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Hunger Mountain, the L.A. Review of Books, Green Mountains Review, Poetry Magazine, Gulf Coast Journal, and The Best American Poetry 2021, among others.
In April of 2020, Mendez along with 7 other Texas artists was selected to represent the state as Texas Official Artists – Lupe serves as the 2022 Texas Poet Laureate, being only one of two poets from Galveston, TX and the first person of color from Galveston to have ever been appointed to this position . The title of Texas Poet Laureate is the state’s highest accolade for excellence in the arts.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think one major misconception that non-creatives struggle with is the idea of art as entertainment v. artistry. There are artists that are working in order to entertain and there are artists who are working and creating works that aren’t commercial. The non-artist is familiar with the commercial side of artistry. Non – creatives could take the time to learn about the other layers of artistry in order to build a true appreciation for art forms. Some art is created for arts sake and not for dollar value consumption. Both an exist and both can be supported.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Some people reading this might wince as I say this but we need to have a conversation about where societal priorities lie. We would do well to value the arts in the same way we support and value sports – from venues to education to resources to scholarships; more can be done to support youth in artistic endeavors, in the same way athletic programs exist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thepoetmendez.org
- Instagram: @thepoetmendez
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guadalupe-mendez-752b0336/
- Twitter: @thepoetmendez