San Ygnacio, TX – As part of its continued programming supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place Grant, the River Pierce Foundation will host a special day of film and literature on Saturday, February 28, celebrating the paperback release of Brother Brontë, the latest novel by acclaimed author Fernando A. Flores.
The event will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at the Treviño–Uribe Fort (604 Treviño St.) in San Ygnacio. In addition to a book reading by Flores, the
River Pierce will screen Pretty Vacant, the award-winning film by filmmaker Jim Mendiola, who will introduce the film.
A complimentary lunch will be provided for all attendees. RSVP at riverpierce.org.
Flores is a Mexican-American author born in Reynosa, Mexico and raised in South Texas. He is the author of Tears of the Trufflepig, long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and Valleyesque. He is widely recognized for his surreal, border-inflected fiction rooted in the cultural, political, and ecological realities of the Río Grande Valley.
Longlisted for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by The Los Angeles Times, Brother Brontë is his second novel to be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and continues Flores’ exploration of speculative futures, borderland identity, and the uneasy intersections of technology, power, and place. Flores will read selections from his writings and participate in a panel discussion and Q&A with attendees.
Mendiola’s Pretty Vacant (1996), is the winner of the award for Best Narrative Short at the SXSW Film Festival. Directed by San Antonio-based filmmaker Mendiola, the film blends documentary and narrative forms to examine Chicano culture, regional history, and popular mythology. He is a 1997 Rockefeller Intercultural Media Fellow and 2001 Artpace Resident, Mendiola’s work has been screened internationally at film festivals and museums including the Havana International Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Mendiola will introduce the film and participate in a post-screening discussion.
Split Sketches, a site-specific immersive installation by artist Tim Gonchoroff will also be on view inside the Treviño–Uribe Fort during the event.
The event is free and open to the public and continues the River Pierce Foundation’s commitment to interdisciplinary humanities programming of borderland voices, regional histories, and creative practices rooted in place. For more information, follow @riverpiercefoundation and RSVP at riverpierce.org.
Schedule of Events
Noon – 2:00 p.m.: Lunch and viewing of Split Sketches installation by artist Tim Gonchoroff
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: Brother Brontë book reading by author Fernando A. Flores
3:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.: Screening of Pretty Vacant by filmmaker Jim Mendiola
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Panel Discussion and Q& A with Fernando A. Flores and Jim Mendiola
