Fiction

Variations on the Body | María Ospina
Violence seeps into the marrow of Colombian writer Maria Ospina’s captivating collection of short stories Variations on the Body translated by Heather Cleary. A type of violence grounded in place and time—1980s-1990s Colombia caught in the throes of Continue reading... 9/11/21

Of Women and Salt | Gabriela Garcia
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia is a multigenerational story that traces the ways women learn to resist power structures and endure suffering with a ferocity born of love and lack of choices. In the beginning, there is María Isabel, a woman whose survival requires Continue reading... 8/26/21

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed | Mariana Enriquez
​Envy, greed, lust, and gluttony. In Argentine writer Mariana Enriquez’s riveting collection of short stories, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed (translated by Megan McDowell), individuals are tempted by myriad cardinal sins. These macabre stories have some of the hallmarks of Continue reading... 5/25/21

Mexican Gothic | Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Noemí is a well-to-do debutant in 1950’s Mexico City, living for the thrill of the next party, the next handsome young man to charm, and the occasional change in her university major to spice things up. Her life takes an unexpected turn when her newlywed cousin, Catalina Continue reading... 3/16/21
​

Space Invaders | Nona Fernández
Potent, thoughtful, and marvelously written, Space Invaders follows a group of friends as they look back on the events leading up to their classmate Estrella González’s sudden disappearance during Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship in Chile. Continue reading... 1/27/21

Cockfight | María Fernanda Ampuero
Deftly written with spare, exacting prose, Cockfight is a masterful collection of short stories by María Fernanda Ampuero, translated by Frances Riddle. The riveting collection presents searing portraits of family life. The compendium of stories Continue reading... 11/1/20
​

Never Look Back | Lilliam Rivera
Acclaimed young adult author Lilliam Rivera has written a riveting novel titled Never Look Back, a contemporary Afro-Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice Greek myth. It is summer in the Bronx. Dominican Pheus, the neighborhood troubadour is a bachata-singing Continue reading... 9/30/10
​

Mouthful of Birds | Samanta Schweblin
Argentine author Samanta Schweblin has written a collection of surreal stories in spare prose titled Mouthful  of Birds translated by Megan McDowell. This potent book long listed for the 2019 Man Booker Prize depicts snapshots of seemingly quotidian life, but with Continue reading... 9/6/20

Cantoras | Carolina De Robertis
A gripping tale of love and survival, Cantoras follows five women as they forge their own paths in the midst of a brutal military dictatorship. Beginning in 1973 and spanning a period of twelve years, the Uruguayan dictatorship was responsible for the imprisonment, Continue reading... 8/2/20
​

Hurricane Season | Fernanda Melchor
Fernanda Melchor’s debut English-translated novel is a haunting masterpiece reminding us that there are no winners when it comes to intolerance. In a rural Mexican village marked by misogyny, addiction, machismo, and homophobia, the Witch is a lifeline for the local Continue reading... 7/6/20

The Last Train to Key West | Chanel Cleeton
The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton tells the story of the interrelated lives of three women: Helen Berner, Mirta Perez, and Elizabeth Preston. The chapters alternate between the main female characters and flesh out the plot in much greater detail. World Word I Continue reading... 6/28/20

Color Me In | Natasha Diaz
​Color Me In is a coming-of-age YA novel about the important role defining one’s identity is in an individual’s journey to come-of-age. It is Nevaeh’s story, one about a high-school aged young woman forced to deal with the effects of polarizing social Continue reading... 1/4/20
​

Juliet Takes a Breath | Gabby Rivera
After coming out as lesbian to her religious, Puerto Rican family, Juliet leaves the Bronx for the first time to take on an internship with a celebrity-status, feminist author in Portland. She arrives in this alien city characterized by a subculture of “hippie white” both elated by Continue reading... 10/25/19
​

​They Could Have Named Her Anything | Stephanie Jimenez
Working class Queens serves as the backdrop for this bildungswoman about an ambitious young student who makes a few regrettable decisions. Maria Anis Rosario is part Ecuadorian and part Puerto Rican Continue reading... 8/9/19
​

Hipster Death Rattle | Richie Narvaez
A rapidly changing Williamsburg serves as the  backdrop and catalyst for this whodunit about a slasher that appears to be targeting hipsters in gory machete attacks. Tony "Chino" Moran works as a part-time reporter for the Williamsburg Sentinel. He loves Continue reading... 7/31/19

The Affairs of the Falcóns | Melissa Rivero
A cold and unwelcoming New York City sets the stage in this domestic drama about an undocumented Peruvian woman struggling to keep her family and shattered American dream from falling to pieces. Ana, her husband Lucho, and two children are living with Continue reading... 6/5/19
​

Tears of the Trufflepig | Fernando A. Flores
The Texas and Mexico border is re-imagined in this creative speculative fiction noir about a future where human and animal lives are even further commodified. In a small South Texas city, an investigative journalist is researching a story about elite dinners organized Continue reading... 5/29/19
​

Sabrina & Corina | Kali Fajardo-Anstine
The American West and Colorado serve as the backdrop for this engrossing collection of tales about Latinx & native women preserving in the face of despair. The title story, Sabrina & Corina, revolves around a young woman doing the makeup on the body of a cousin Continue reading... 4/8/29
​

Orlando and Other Stories | Norman Antonio Zelaya
A rapidly gentrifying Mission neighborhood is the canvas for these linked stories about a Nica-American special education teacher scraping by in the Bay Area. Tonio grew up in the Mission area of San Francisco when it was still working class, but now feels like one of the few Continue reading... ​3/9/19
​

Halsey Street | Naima Coster
A rapidly changing Brooklyn serves as the backdrop for this complex novel about family and acceptance. Penelope moves back to New York to be close to her elderly father Ralph, and is shocked at how gentrification has displaced her old neighbors with rich, corporate Continue reading... ​12/21/18
​

Lost Empress | Sergio de la Pava
New Jersey and Riker's Island set the stage for this story about a scorned heiress who takes on the NFL and also an unlikely art heist. Millionaire Nina Gill starts a renegade football league after a family dispute leaves her fuming at the Dallas Cowboys. Continue reading... 11/1/18
​

Natalia Sylvester | Everyone Knows You Go Home
​​The Rio Grande Valley and two harrowing tales of immigrants' sacrifice serve as the key ingredients in Natalia Sylvester's compelling sophomore novel. On the day of their wedding, Martin and Isabel are visited by the spirit of Martin's  Continue reading... 6/2/18
​

Hernan Diaz | In the Distance 
​​The antebellum American West serves as the landscape for Hernan Diaz's story of a Swedish immigrant named "the Hawk" who futilely searches for his lost brother. From the violent California Gold Rush to the lawless pioneer trail, the Hawk travels Eastward Continue reading... 5/14/18

Elizabeth Acevedo | Poet X
​Xiomara, the protagonist in Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut YA book titled The Poet X, is an adolescent navigating her way through the confusions and challenges posed by both her Dominican mother’s strict Catholic expectations and Xiomara’s own inability Continue reading... 4/12/18
​

Edgar Smith | Arrimao
Two men from different walks of life travel to the land of opportunity in search of a new beginning. Each of them, driven by their life's passions, have chosen their journey. Despite their differences, both Roberto and Ricardo share many parallels, including Continue reading... 1/8/18

Diana J. Noble | Angelina Takes Flight
Evangelina lives a sheltered life with her family, including her precious abuelito, in the small town of Mariposa. Rumors spreading around are about how the Villistas are heading towards Norther Mexico, towards their beloved home, bringing with them Continue reading... 12/16/17
​

Melanie Márquez Adams | Mariposas Negras
An enticing set of stories with elements of magical realism commonly associated with Latin American literature. Mariposas negras by Melanie Márquez Adams is a Spanish short story collection that delves in the mystical, macabre and eerie corners of the soul Continue reading... 12/3/17
​

Jonathan Marcantoni | Kings of 7th Avenue
A story of friendship, murder and uncontrolled passions –Kings of 7th Avenue by Jonathan Marcantoni is a novel that takes an unyielding look at some of the challenging social and gender roles within our Latino communities as well as the dreadful misogyny that is Continue reading... 6/4/2017

Luis Panini | Función de repulsa
Función de repulsa by Luis Panini is like entering a museum of modern art, where the work in the form of installations, paintings, sculptures, etc. is presented for a pure conceptual effect.  In this museum of vignettes, the artist intentionally wants to induce Continue reading... 3/17/17
​

Maria de Lourdes Victoria | La casa de los secretos
La casa de los secretos is a historic fictional novel by María de Lourdes Victoria which takes place during two crucial time periods in Mexican history, the Mexican-American War and the Mexican Revolution. It is the story of Patricia, a widow who lives in a mansion Continue reading... 12/11/16
​

Instructions to Read Cortázar
To start reading Cortázar, maybe it would be prudent to avoid Rayuela, a novel that was described by Jose Saramago as being "in constant movement". It is impossible to stop it, as it is vast and to a certain degree, infinite. If we continue Morelli's reading Continue reading... 10/8/16
​

Christopher Carmona | The Road to Llorona Park
The Road to Llorona Park is a culturally rooted collection of short stories by Christopher Carmona which take place in the enchanting frontera of the Río Grande Valley of South Texas; a region that has become one of most electrifying literary scenes in the last Continue reading... 8/21/16
​

Alejandro Zambra | Bonsái
Bonsái is the first novel of the Chilean author Alejandro Zambra. Due to its laconic language and his almost interrupted descriptions, we can not only consider it a short novel, but also a synthesis novel, or maybe a bonsai novel; an intimate short version of a Continue reading... 7/24/16
​

Joe Jiménez | Bloodline 
Bloodline is a realistic fiction, young adult novel by Joe Jiménez which tells the coming of age story of Abram, a vulnerable yet tough seventeen year old "hijo de abuela" boy, who's on a path of discovery with his conflicted self, his first love, and derailed role Continue reading... 6/26/16
​

Sabina Berman | El dios de Darwin
A clash between religion and science in the making since the findings of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. El dios de Darwin is an acute fiction thriller that attempts to determine a common ground in our present time, narrated through the voice of a highly Continue reading... 5/21/16 
​

Luis Alberto Urrea | Into the Beautiful North
A small town in Sinaloa, Mexico is taken over by despicable drug cartel members who decide to feast on whatever they see fit. It's now up to the townspeople to come up with a solution. Into the Beautiful North is an epic novel by Luis Alberto Urrea which tells the Continue reading... 5/29/16
​

Paul Pedroza } The Dead Will Rise and Save Us
The Dead Will Rise and Save Us is a collection of fifteen fictional stories by Paul Pedroza that take place in and around El Paso, Texas, giving life to the culturally rich and mysterious southern border region. The characters in the stories share Continue reading... 4/17/16

Carlos Aguasaco | El viejo y el man
El viejo y el man is a Spanish realistic fiction novel by Carlos Aguasaco which tells the story of Fidel Castro in his later years. No longer is he the encarnated symbol of power in Cuba, but a mere nostalgic shadow of what he once was. Forgotten by the media Continue reading... 3/27/16   

Rumbos | Gabriel González Núñez
Rumbos is a collage of narratives that reflect on the fragile border between the supernatural and everyday life. Gabriel González Núñez shares extraordinary and ordinary tales with characters that range from starving vampires to apathetic immigration judges Continue reading... 7/19/21

Eat the Mouth That Feeds You | Carribean Fragoza
Coeditor of Boom California, UC Press’s cultural journal, Carribean Fragoza’s Eat The Mouth That Feeds You is a masterful debut collection centering themes of power, the body, and ancestral roots in the lives of the mostly Latina/ Chicana protagonists. Continue reading... 4/29/30

Las voladoras | Mónica Ojeda
Drawing from Ecuadorian folklore, oral storytelling traditions, and Inca mythology, Mónica Ojeda delivers a short fiction debut that is as discerning as it is visceral, a hair-raising and deft collection that expands the possibilities of contemporary Latin American Continue reading... 2/16/21

Fiebre Tropical | Juli Delgado Lopera
​Decked in beat-up Converse, black eyeliner, and hand-drawn blue stars—not to mention armed with her favorite Sylvia Plath book—fifteen-year-old Francisca is clever, rebellious, insightful. A recent transplant from Colombia, she is struggling to adjust to her new Continue reading... 11/23/20
​

Afterlife | Julia Alvarez
A remarkable new work from one of our most celebrated Dominican-American novelists, Afterlife provides a penetrating insight into the life that comes after – not for those who leave, but for those who are left behind. A Dominican immigrant who has Continue reading... 10/10/20

Things We Lost in the Fire | Mariana Enriquez​
A chilling, pulse-racing collection that unearths the sinister horrors lurking beneath the everyday. Disappearances, nightmares, and mysteries abound in Mariana Enriquez’s disquieting tales of contemporary Argentina: a student rips out her own fingernails and Continue reading... 9/11/20

Incurables | Oswaldo Estrada (Ed.)
The human body has been frequently considered a site of literary inscription. The images of a sick body, a disabled body, or a body in pain, convey several understandings about the vulnerability of human existence. In 2666 Roberto Bolaño speaks of “a pain that turns Continue reading... 8/24/20

Little Eyes | Samanta Schweblin
In Samanta Schweblin’s novel Little Eyes, people around the world are delighted by a new technology bringing anonymous online relationships to a new level. Kentukis are small stuffed animals on wheels, like a furry robot pet—except behind their little eyes are Continue reading... 7/8/20

Clap When You Land | Elizabeth Acevedo
A novel-in-verse that explores the intricacies of love and mourning. Clap When You Land tells the story of Camino and Yahaira, two sisters whose fates become intertwined when a tragic accident forces them to discover the truth about their father—and each other. Continue reading... 6/29/20

Where We Come From | Oscar Cásares
Brownsville is the setting for this gripping story about family, being a good samaritan, and unintended consequences. Nina is a middle-aged woman who lives with her infirm mother and takes care of her when their housekeeper, from the Mexican city of Matamoros Continue reading... ​3/9/20
​

Tonta | Jaime Hernandez
Jaime Hernandez—one of three brothers who created the now-classic Love & Rockets comics of the 80s—centers his most recent project around the character of Tonta in his graphic novel that bears the same name. The story expertly captures the angst of Continue reading... 12/15/19
​

Puro Amor | Sandra Cisneros
Houses matter to Sandra Cisneros. She describes a "house with windows so small they like like they're holding their breaths" in her debut The House on Mango Street, beloved eyes "like little houses" in her novel Caramelo, and she writes of her lifelong quest to find autonomy Continue reading... ​8/22/19
​

Dominicana | Angie Cruz
Set in Washington Heights, Manhattan in the 1960s, when Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy were assassinated, and protestors fought to end Jim Crow and the Vietnam War, 15-year-old Ana Canción arrives in New York from the Dominican Republic newly Continue reading... 8/7/19
​

Dealing in Dreams | Lilliam Rivera
​​It’s a new world order and the women are in charge. In Lilliam Rivera’s Dealing in Dreams dystopian novel there is reversal in power dynamics where all-female gangs are in charge of protecting order in Mega City. Through battles and bloodshed Continue reading... ​6/13/19
​

Lifeforce | Annie Rodriguez
Annie Rodriguez’s debut novel Lifeforce, a YA novel published by Green Place Books, is set in the backdrop of a hospital, allowing for the humanization of its three most important but somewhat inhuman characters: a witch, a lycan, a vampire. The narrative takes Continue reading... 6/3/19 ​

With the Fire on High | Elizabeth Acevedo
A love letter to the single mom, good food, and community, Elizabeth Acevedo tells the coming-of-age story of Emoni Santiago in With the Fire on High, her follow-up novel to her award-winning debut, Poet X. Emoni is a single mom finishing high school Continue reading... ​5/3/19

Relatos y cuentos coloniales de ultratumba 
Relatos y cuentos coloniales de ultratumba is a compilation of nine short horror stories from colonial Mexico. Some of the frightening accounts are extracts from colonial chronicles and others from popular versions. It was printed by Editorial Epoca, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico Continue reading... 3/16/19
​

Next Year in Havana | Chanel Cleeton
Next Year in Havana is developed on the notion of postmemory coined by Marianne Hirsch. Postmemory is the relationship of the second generation to events before their births that are transferred to them as powerful and meaningful stories. These constitute memories Continue reading... 2/5/19
​

Fight Like a Man | Christine Granados
The border region of El Paso and Juarez sets the stage for this novella about a middle-aged woman experiencing a sexual re-awakening that turns reckless. Monica is pregnant, but not by her husband. The spark left her marriage years ago; her and her husband Sal live together Continue reading... 12/18/18
​

El Rinche | Christopher Carmona
​The moon hung low on that unusual April night. It wanted a better look at the incident that would change everything. It was a beautiful night for injustice. For treachery. For a knot in the narrative thread. The skies were filled with so many stars that chased every Continue reading... 7/30/18
​

São Paulo Noir | Ed. by Tony Bellotto
​A bottle of whisky filled with violence, prostitution, mystery, kidnapping and death. São Paulo Noir, is part of the Akashic noir, short story anthology, book series that includes over one hundred book titles. Each set in a major city around the globe. Continue reading... 6/23/18
​

Juan Villoro | The Wild Book
​​A wondrous book of magic and adventures. The Wild Book by the renown Mexican author, Juan Villoro, is the story of a boy who moves in with his reclusive and awkward uncle, during his summer break, after the separation of his parents. Continue reading... 5/6/18
​

​Pilo Galindo | Río Ánimas
​Pilo Galindo (Nov. 10, 1957) is a Mexican scriptwriter and narrator from in Ciudad Juarez. He has lived in the border city all his life, and has won several national literary awards. His play, Río Ánimas, is a story about love, abandonment and mystical beliefs that Continue reading... 2/15/18
​

Daniel Olivas | The King of Lightning Fixtures
Los Angeles and its residents serve as the muse for Daniel Olivas’ 30 excellently crafted tales of love, lust, anxiety and everything in between. The very first story, Good Things Happen at Tina’s Cafe, sets the tone as fast-paced and not afraid of big jumps in plot.  Continue reading... 1/27/18
​

Luis Alberto Urrea | The House of Broken Angels
Once again, Luis Alberto Urrea comes back stronger than ever as he demonstrates his literary prowess through his new, explosive and heartfelt novel, The House of Broken Angels. It is the epic story of an American family. "One that happens to speak Spanish". Continue reading... 1/16/18
​

David Miklos | Debris
​Puerto Trinidad is a town left behind, haunted by the memories it hides. Mothers. The young. Those who have escaped. Cycles of life and death, secrets and curiosity. Somehow bound by consciousness and separated by time and distance, the Continue reading...  12/27/17
​

Daniel Chacón | The Cholo Tree
​They say he has no future. He is a cholo up to no good, with no hopes for a life outside of the streets. Lucky to have survived a near-death experience he can't quite recall, even Victor's own mother refuses to be associated with "one of his kind". But what they don't Continue reading... 12/18/17
​

John Paul Jaramillo | Little Mocos
​A piercingly dark novel charged with extreme family trauma and poverty. Little Mocos by John Paul Jaramillo is the story of two cousins from Southern Colorado, Manito and Bea, who become products of a socially impairing environment that includes alcoholism Continue reading... 11/20/17
​

Benjamin Alire Saenz | The Inexplicable Logic of My Life
​Memories are riddles that map identity, but do not necessarily define a person’s character. That is a lesson Salvador and his friends, Samantha and Fito, come to learn in a journey of loss, grief, acceptance, and faith during their senior year at El Paso Continue reading... 8/12/17
​

Sergio Pitol | The Magician of Vienna
The Magician of Vienna is admirably the final volume of Sergio Pitol's "Trilogy of Memory," following The Art of Flight and The Journey. In this book, the author recounts, in a an essay format that is part memoir and part fiction, his encounters with literature  Continue reading... 5/14/17
​

Cristina ​Rivera Garza | The Iliac Crest
The Iliac Crest, a novel originally published in Spanish as La cresta de ilión by the renown Mexican author Cristina Rivera Garza, will debut its English version this Fall 2017. With a skillful translation by Sarah Booker, The Iliac Crest, renews its flight in search of new Continue reading...  8/1/17
​

Rafael Reyes Ruiz | The Ruins
The Ruins is a cross-cultural novel by Rafael Reyes-Ruiz that explores the relationship between memory and nostalgia in a plot that takes place in several continents. It is the story of Tomás Rodrigues, a professor in Japan, who finds himself haunted by his Continue reading... 4/13/17
​

Wendy Ortiz | Bruja
Since the beginning of time we have been fascinated and intrigued by dreams and their meanings. An alternative reality that peeks through the window of our subconscious where anything can happen. Bruja, by Wendy Ortiz, is a crossover of this parallel Continue reading... 3/11/17
​

Elvia Ardalani | El sótano del caracol
E​l sótano del caracol by Elvia Ardalani is the story of three women: Asunción, Evangelina and Luz Maria, moved by love and loss.  Women who have learned to carry their heart as a shell to confront adversity.  Contrary to what would be the natural response, Continue reading... 1/1/16
​

Mary Helen Mourra | The Patagonia Files
A new and explosive take on Latin America's greatest challenges​​ through an international legal thriller that exposes today's tragic global issues, including corporate greed, foreign investment, conflicts with indigenous cultures, climate change and Continue reading... 12/31/16
​

Vanessa García | White Light
Veronica Gonzáles, a struggling Latina artist, is trying to find her place in the constricted world of painting. Moved by her endless determination and her willingness not to become a high school art teacher Veronica pushes herself forward in an attempt to overcome her Continue reading... 11/21/16
​

Eligio Coronado | El hombre de la dicha perenne
Finding wisdom and transcending towards illumination is not an easy task in life. The paths are various and distinct. In El hombre de la dicha perenne, Eligio Coronado in an impeccable prose with sparkles of camouflaged poetry, shows us one of these paths. Continue reading... 11/06/16