LITERATURE / Book Presentation

Celebrate México Now Festival 2004-2024

Celebrate México Now Festival 2004–2024 is a commemorative book honoring the first twenty years of México Now Festival—an independent, multidisciplinary cultural project in New York City founded and directed by Claudia Norman. Written and edited by Rocio Echevarría and published by independent press Editorial Microhistorias, the book draws from more than twenty-five interviews with Claudia and a deep review of two decades of festival archives, materials, and testimonies. The result is an intimate visual and narrative journey through the festival’s evolution and its vibrant, ever-growing community.

Hosted at The Center for Fiction, this special event kicks off with a conversation moderated by David Brooks—author, journalist, and U.S. correspondent for the Mexican newspaper La Jornada—featuring Rocio Echevarría and José Higuera, Director of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute and one of the book’s sponsors. The discussion will then open to the audience, offering space for questions, reflections, and shared stories.

If you’ve been part of the festival’s history, we invite you to join us, reconnect, and celebrate this landmark publication together.

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Event Information

Date: Wednesday, November 5th, 2025

Time: 7:30 pm

Venue: Center for Fiction

Address: 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Tickets: Free with RSVP

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Rocio Echevarria

With over 25 years of experience as an editor, writer, and copyeditor, Rocio Echevarria has collaborated across academic, museographic, and publishing projects in Mexico. In 2020, she founded Editorial Microhistorias, a unique imprint focused on telling real stories—personal anecdotes, memoirs, and cultural histories—through interviews, rather than written submissions, giving each story a carefully crafted voice.

Her love of dance has influenced much of her work. Her first Microhistorias book celebrated renowned ballet and jazz master Guillermo Maldonado, and dance continues to weave through her projects, from chronicling cultural promoters to students in government-run dance workshops. Rocio’s approach combines creativity, empathy, and precision, making each book a personalized celebration of lived experience.

Rocio Echevarría. Photo courtesy of artist

José Higuera-López

José Higuera-López is the Director of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute (CUNY MSI), housed at Lehman College since 2016. Born in Tijuana, México, Dr. Higuera López immigrated to the United States in 2009. He is an accomplished educator and administrator with over twenty years of experience in both countries.

Aware of the importance of preserving the historical memory of the Mexican community in New York, Dr. Higuera-López founded the Digital Archives and Resources Unit as well as the CUNY Mexican Studies Archives and Library. Furthermore, in collaboration with BronxNet, he created the Mexican Studies Oral History Project, a television program that documents the experience, challenges, and contributions of the Mexican community in New York City.

José Higuera López. Photo courtesy of artist

David Brooks

Brooks is the US Bureau Chief of La Jornada, a Mexico-based daily newspaper, since 1992. Between 1987-1995 he was the founding director of the Mexico-US Dialogos Program dedicated to promoting binational exchanges between social sectors. Previously he was a researcher in varios research centers in Mexico and the US: director of the Mexico Project at NACLA, the Instituto de Estados Unidos at CIDE, founding member of the Latin American Center for Strategic Studies (CLEE) and at the Center for Economic and Social Studies of the Third World (CEESTEM). Brooks has collaborated with diverse projects and organizations dedicated to North-South relations, contributed to numerous publications in the US, Mexico and other parts of Latin America. He is the co-editor of the book Cross-Border Dialogues (UC, San Diego).

David Brooks. La Jornada. Courtesy of author