LibroMobile’s 10th Anniversary Weekend LitFest to Be Either a ‘Fundraiser or a Closing Celebration’
- Lola Olvera
- 5 hours ago
- 8 min read
Santa Ana’s only literary arts cultural center will announce Orange County’s new poet laureates and celebrate local authors while seeking funding to stay afloat another year.
It started with a pushcart.
After Rueben Martinez's Librería Martínez in downtown Santa Ana closed in 2015, author Sarah Rafael García was determined that her hometown should have a new bookstore.
“The only way I could read books growing up was my library and that was Newhope Library,” she said. “To have the one bookstore that I did get to experience and ended up having my book release for my first book, to have it close down was devastating because that bookstore represented Latino authors, libros en español. It was (about) feeling a need in our community that has never been prioritized by other bookstores or even the arts landscape in general.”
García launched LibroMobile as a curbside vendor in 2016 with support from fiscal agent Red Salmon Arts and a $5,000 grant from the city of Santa Ana. Her mission was to “cultivate diversity through literature and the arts” in Santa Ana and the broader Orange County region.
Although the concept of selling books out of a pushcart was simple in theory, red tape ground it to a halt. The city didn’t offer a permit to sell books on the street, so instead of risking being cited and fined, García began partnering with other spaces, like the local farmer’s market, The Frida Cinema and Alta Baja Market, to sell books, host readings and offer free workshops.
Eventually, LibroMobile found its first home in a now-nonexistent stairway between the entrance of Alta Baja Market and 4th Street Market. Eleven months later, it moved to a 190-square-feet warehouse in an alley by the Yost Theater, which was outfitted with bookshelves and murals by local artists. LibroMobile’s first literary arts festival began in this alley.
However, García began to notice that the visibility of her literary festival was attracting commercial festivals and business initiatives to the area which she believes served as catalysts for gentrification in the community and led to significantly decreased book sales – it had to leave the warehouse in 2021.
Luckily, while working with the owners of Bristol Swap Mall to establish a free library cart at their food court, they offered her a storefront to rent at a heavily discounted rate, and it has been LibroMobile’s brick-and-mortar home to this day. Ten years after the first pushcart, LibroMobile regularly holds about 30-45 events each year, including special exhibitions, arts education programs and community events, and works in conjunction with the Crear Studio interdisciplinary gallery in downtown Santa Ana that García founded in 2017.
Despite its significant community impact, LibroMobile continued to struggle financially. García had discontinued LibroMobile’s literary festivals for some time because they rarely generated money, and often incurred losses. But the bookstore’s funding needs have reached a crucial point – this year’s evolved version of the festival, focused on literature, arts, education and community, rather than vendors, is a necessary push for financial support.
LibroMobile’s 10th Anniversary Weekend LitFest kicks off on Friday, Aug. 21 with a local authors mixer from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Community members are invited to enjoy spirited beverages and small bites as they socialize with local authors handpicked by García. She intentionally highlighted authors who hadn’t been showcased before, continuing her commitment to provide opportunities for emerging writers.
“When my first book came out, it took 10 years to get invited by the local library as a local author,” she said. “It shouldn't take 10 years for anybody to be acknowledged in their own community.”
Local authors are featured at the LibroMobile. Lila Riesen, left, and her new thriller "Rainsong." Alexis Jaimes, right, and his new poetry book "The Seeds We Sow." Photos courtesy of LibroMobile
Israel Moya is the author of the young adult novel “Monarchs in the Wild,” Alexis Jaimes is celebrating his debut full-length poetry book “The Seeds We Sow,” and Lila Riesen is the author of “Rainsong” and “Free Radicals.” Ron Gonzalez is one of the contributors to “Mexican American Baseball in Orange County” and a former editor for The Orange County Register, known for uplifting Latino writers (he gave García her first byline in 2008, a story about her father). Susie Yi is the author and illustrator f the early reader series “Cat & Cat Adventures.” Theodore Chao is one of the editors of “Auntie Kristina's Guide to Asian American Activism,” as well as a professor in the Department of Elementary and Bilingual Education at California State University, Fullerton.
Growing up in Santa Ana next to the now-defunct Remington Elementary, Jaimes’ world, shaped by gang violence and a culture of survival, was one where artistic endeavors seemed out of reach.
“Arts was, like, the last thing on my mind or a lot of people's minds,” he said.
Although the books he was assigned to read in high school lacked representation of writers and characters of color, his AP literature teacher praised his writing skills and encouraged him to pursue an English degree. Jaimes is now the author of poetry book “The Seeds We Sow” and chapbook “Corazón Coalesced” and is one of the most recognizable faces in the Orange County open mic scene. He has also become an educator himself, further uplifting the power of language at the Spanish dual immersion elementary school he teaches at in La Habra, and cultivating artistic spaces and opportunities for the next generation that he didn’t feel he had himself growing up.
“I always saw it as you had to have money to create and circulate art within the community,” he said. “I thought that's how it moved. And I think LibroMobile is instrumental to dispelling that (idea). In the short time that LibroMobile has been around, they've created a viable writing community, which is something that is not easy to do. They have been a hub for people like me and other writers in the community to gather and to connect with each other and to encourage each other. It's really important because it's encouraging people of color to create.”
LibroMobile’s most jam-packed festival day, Saturday, August 22, runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. First, there’s a Community Arts Forum featuring leaders from local organizations that are key collaborators with LibroMobile.
Erica Gonzalez will represent community coalition group OC Mutual Aid, which has been running a pantry at the bookstore since the ICE raids began last year. Julie Vo will represent the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association, with whom LibroMobile partners every year for Viet Book Fest, one of its biggest sale weekends. David Pulido from Community Service Organization Orange County will be present; the on-the-ground work they do holding police and city officials accountable is supported in part by LibroMobile allowing them to use the bookstore to host their monthly meetings. Krystal Tribbett from University of California, Irvine Libraries will also join; they have partnered with LibroMobile for four years, including providing unrestricted funding, student interns and compensation to the bookstore for mentoring their students.
After the forum, two 45-minute writing workshops will take place: the Teen Creative Workshop led by artist, poet and multilingual education advocate Sailee Charlu; and the 18+ Creative Workshop led by Fullerton Museum Center executive director and founder of Poco a Poco Productions, Elvia Rubalcava.
Following the workshops, local artists will share a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the digital archiving work that is underway at Crear Studio. The “BIPOC Artists in OC” panel talks will feature Santa Ana Community Artista Coalition co-founder Roger Reyes, writer and artist Alexa Vasquez, author and Irvine Valley College English professor Lisa Alvarez and documentary photographer Alkaid Ramirez.
Closing off the day is the VIP “After Hours” cocktail party, featuring live music by ukulele player Steve Camarillo, Brain and Body Music Studio’s Jarli and singer-songwriter Ruby Castellanos.
On Sunday, Aug. 23 from 3-5 p.m. is the OC Poets Laureate reading and reception, a celebratory send-off for 2024-2026 Poet Laureate of Orange County Gustavo Hernandez and the official announcement of the 2027 Orange County Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate.
Hernandez will be reading from his two books: his latest, “Bachelor,” and his first book, “Flower Grand First,” which LibroMobile helped support. He first met García through her creative writing program Barrio Writers, which offers college-level writing workshops to teenagers in under-resourced communities, with a focus on authors of color.
“When I think of a lot of those poems, I think about the store, and I think about the part that they played in championing that book because they did a lot,” he said. “Without that sort of backing, the book wouldn't have gone as far as it did and wouldn't be in the hands of as many people. It's going to be a reading of gratitude.”
LibroMobile highlights zines, poetry books and independent publishers at its bookstore. Photo courtesy of LibroMobile
LibroMobile founded the Orange County Poet Laureate Program in 2021, with support from OC Public Libraries and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program. Laureates are expected to not only be dedicated to their craft of writing but connect their practice to civic and community engagement.
“What makes a good laureate, at its core, is just a passion for furthering poetry and for helping the community to which you're assigned,” said Hernandez, who was part of the selection committee. “You have to want to do it for the right reasons, and the right reason is not a line on your résumé. The right reason is because you love poetry and you feel connected to the region to which you're assigned.”
Mentorship was always the focus of his laureateship, and the advice he shares is shaped by his experiences growing up and feeling like being a writer was for people of a different background, not people who looked like him. Hernandez regularly made himself available to the community by offering office hours for anyone wanting to talk to him about their writing, and also visited local schools, including the elementary school he attended and still lives across the street from.
“You would not believe how wonderful it was to be able to look at those kids and say, ‘You can do whatever it is that you want, even if it isn't writing,’” he said. “I always tell the kids, "You're looking at someone who is living their dream right now. And I am from your community. I'm your neighbor. I've been able to do what I wanted and live my dream. You can do it too."
Youth workers have largely powered the bookstore, paid either through the Santa Ana Youth Employment Program or contracted by LibroMobile once they gained sufficient experience. But last year, the bookstore had to stop paying their youth workers and transitioned to being entirely volunteer-run. García says it costs about $135 daily for someone to run the bookstore, and since at this point they are often making less than $50 daily in books sales, they are losing money every day. The LitFest fundraiser, which has a still-unmet goal of $25,000, is a last hope to raise enough money to stay open through next year and be able to pay its workers at least half the time.
“I'm exhausted, some of the volunteers are exhausted,” García said. “We don't have enough book sales to even invest in someone working behind the desk. So our goal is to try to make money to save and pay someone or transform completely all over again.”
One of the most likely transformations? An electric golf cart that García found that is currently having body work done, that would travel to various locations around Orange County.
Without sufficient funding procured through this year’s LitFest, LibroMobile may go from being a bookstore to becoming a literal bookmobile – eerily similar to how it began 10 years ago.
LibroMobile's Weekend LitFest
When: Aug. 21-23
Where: LibroMobile, 1150 S. Bristol St. A3, Santa Ana
Cost: Tickets range from $5-75
Information: zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/libromobiles-weekend-litfest
