Sacramento Latino book festival celebrates culture, community and safe spaces
Honoring culture and family, embracing the love of reading, creating and lifting community in challenging times — all were part of the daylong celebration of the written word Saturday at the Sacramento Latino Book & Family Festival.
The Latino Book & Family Festival is in its third year at the Valley High School campus in south Sacramento. More than 4,000 people attended last year’s festival, said organizer Empowering Latino Futures. Thousands again attended this year, crowding booths and events across the Valley High campus.
The nonprofit organization, cofounded by actor and activist Edward James Olmos, has produced 76 of the festivals across the country, with its mission of “uplifting literacy, culture and community engagement.”
“I didn’t know how big the festival was going to be, but it makes me so happy to see so many people here, especially in this political climate. It’s nice to see,” said Karla Martinez, a psychologist at Elk Grove Unified School District.
Martinez visited the festival with her family, and a goal in mind: returning to her office with books that reflect the young people she sees each day.
“Where can I find books so they feel seen, so they know it’s a safe space?” Martinez said.
Dolores Huerta: ‘We need to show our faces’
At the end of a long summer of uncertainty and fear in the Latino community in California and beyond, the festival, too, was a safe space.
A space for books about and written by authors who looked like the families who browsed the booths and aisles.
“It’s important for high school kids, elementary school kids to come and appreciate literature; parents, to show how important reading is,” said Pori Flores, Jr., an Imperial Valley-based author, and Imperial Superior Court judge. “Especially, when you’re in a time where there’s book bans. That should not happen. We need more exposure to literature. Encourage kids to love that sense of getting a book and reading.”
A space for speakers including Latina civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, the festival’s guest of honor, who urged festivalgoers to “show our faces.”
In a panel interview with KCRA anchor and children’s book author Leticia Ordaz at Valley High’s gymnasium, Huerta was asked if “this was the time to hide?”
“No,” Huerta said to applause. “We need to protest. We need to show our faces out there. We have to change the narrative. We are the people of this continent. These lands are our lands. We are the people of this land.”
.jpg "IMG_0690 (1).jpg")
A space for music that honors and extends traditions.
Mariachi Los Claveles is comprised of musicians from Woodland Unified School District schools through the Woodland nonprofit of the same name that teaches mariachi to local youth.
On Saturday, they performed for Huerta and hundreds of others gathered for the annual festival.
“It’s definitely a big honor to play our legacy. It means a lot to preserve the art of mariachi,” said Idbin Acosta, violinist and musical director. “We use our music as a way to connect with the community.”
And a space for the message that books and reading can be gateways to something bigger.
“I believe that reading can transform people, create community, to show we are not isolated communities. We are part of this enterprise — our country,” said author and University of the Pacific professor Martin Camps.
“We can build a strong community and a strong democracy,” Camps continued. “Events like these that have to do with reading are the most critical. Events like these are who we are as a community.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM.
.JPG)