David Lida will make a presentation based on his book First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1 at the STOP SMILING Storefront.

Lida was born in New York City but decided to leave when he saw much of what he loved about his hometown — energy, spontaneity, cultural richness — dwindling and homogenizing in the face of development. He found all those things and more in Mexico City, where he’s lived and worked as a writer for the past 15 years. His book, newly in paperback, not only documents his personal experiences there, but also argues that Mexico City is a model city of the 21st century — sprawling, unplanned, vibrant — and our continent’s closest example of what the urban future will look like.

The event at Stop Smiling will be book-ended by lectures by Lida at Loyola University and the University of Chicago. The Stop Smiling event will be a more informal, intimate affair, which will give audience members and the author an opportunity for deeper discourse and exchange. Mexico City native Gabriel Feijoo will moderate the discussion. A reception will follow.

Click here to watch a video trailer for the book.

David Lida presents:
First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century
Thursday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m.
The STOP SMILING Storefront
1371 N Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

David Lida is a journalist has been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Interview, Gourmet and The Village Voice, among others; in Mexico, he wrote and edited (in Spanish) for D.F., which was Mexico City’s equivalent to the New Yorker. He is also the author of an acclaimed book of short stories that take place in Mexico, Travel Advisory, as well as Las llaves de la ciudad, a collection of journalism he wrote in Spanish. For more about David Lida, visit his website at www.davidlida.com.