18 June 11 - 17, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Truth Walker, LA Johnson, Mike Soto, Myca Williamson, Pierre Minar and Rev- erie Koniecki, are part of the lineup. Dallas bands will play throughout the day Satur- day at Deep Ellum Art Co., and local musi- cians, including DAMOYEE, D-CLAIM, Cayuga All-Stars, Ceci Ceci, Kirk Thur- mond and Mayhill, help keep the festival rooted in North Texas even as it reaches outward. And it does reach outward. Ford says the lineup was designed to reflect Deep Vel- lum’s publishing mission, which has long championed translated literature, global perspectives and voices that don’t always get the biggest stage. “Powerful writing and art are being pro- duced in pockets all over the world, and I wanted that simultaneously local and inter- national sensibility present at the festival,” she says. The roster backs that up, with writers from across the United States joined by voices connected to Nigeria, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and Bolivia through the broader Deep Vellum orbit. The kickoff event at Ruins on Friday points directly to that mission. Ford de- scribes it as “an ode to the type of literary work Deep Vellum and the Dallas area is known for,” featuring a panel on Latin American translated literature with Ro- drigo Hasbún, Carmen Boullosa and Robin Myers, followed by performances from Ceci Ceci and Cayuga All-Stars. It’s a smart opening statement: translation, live perfor- mance and Dallas institutions working in concert. The weekend only gets denser from there. Ford promises panels on craft, vam- pires, wandering and writing that stares down dystopian realities, plus a Texas Book Festival-hosted conversation featur- ing Karan Mahajan and Maria Reva. There’s also a Sunday morning poetry reading with Sophia Terazawa, Oksana Lutsyshyna and Robin Myers accompa- nied by jazz band D-CLAIM, which sounds like the kind of event that could ei- ther quietly unravel you or set your whole day right. Ford, wisely, adds one important selling point to the dreaminess: “There will be air conditioning.” Still, the deepest appeal of this festival may be its sense of civic affection. Ford hopes the event honors not just Deep Vel- lum’s literary world, but Deep Ellum itself — its small businesses, its artists and the social energy that has long made the neighbor- hood one of Dallas’ most vital creative dis- tricts. “I hope it brings a sense of community and delight to Dallasites and visitors from around the world,” she says. That’s a lovely ambition, but also a plausible one, because if this festival works the way it looks like it might, Deep Ellum won’t just host a weekend of read- ings and shows. It will remind Dallas that art sounds better when it’s shared, and that the distance between a song and a sentence is sometimes only a stage light away. Tickets and passes are available now through Deep Vellum’s festival page. Bsides from p17 SCAN HERE TO ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS
