Join Gemini Ink, San Antonio’s Writing Arts Center, for its 25th annual Inkstravaganza on Thursday, October 8, as we honor Jim LaVilla-Havelin, recipient of the 2026 Award for Literary Excellence.
Celebrate Jim’s extraordinary contributions as a poet, educator, editor, and community arts advocate during an unforgettable evening of literary community, conversation, and celebration.
Jim LaVilla-Havelin is the author of eight books of poetry, including recently released Mesquites Teach Us to Bend (Lamar University Literary Press, 2025) and A Thoreau Book (Alabrava Press, 2025). He is the co-editor for Houston University Press’ UNSUNG MASTERS volume on Rosemary Catacalos, and Literary Executor for Catacalos’ estate, assembling her collected poems for a volume, Sing!
Educator, editor, and community arts activist, LaVilla-Havelin, was the Poetry Editor for the San Antonio Express-News for over 10 years. He has been the Coordinator of National Poetry Month in San Antonio for 18 years (as of 2025). In 2019, he was awarded the City of San Antonio’s Distinction in the Arts for Literary Arts.
A creative writing teacher for over fifty years, in addition to his 12 years of teaching at The Cyndi Taylor Krier Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center for Gemini Ink’s Partners Program – LaVilla-Havelin teaches senior citizens in the Go Arts Program through Bihl Haus Cultural Arts, and has been the Poet In Residence at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy, teaching high school students. He was Gemini Ink’s 2020 Writers in Communities Teacher of the Year.
Honorary Co-Chairs
Dr. Mike Flores, Chancellor, Alamo Colleges District
Martha Martinez-Flores, Creative Director/Principal MM Creative
Special Tribute Toast
Ron Nirenberg
Featured Moderator
Naomi Shihab Nye
Emcee
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson
