National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place annually from September 15th through October 15th. To celebrate, we’ve compiled a list of titles — several newly released — by contemporary Latinx authors who continue to display literary excellence.
Her Body and Other Parties (2017) by Carmen Maria Machado
A striking, fabulous, genre-bending collection of short stories that examine the realities and violences of life in a woman’s body. Machado weaves horror, science fiction, and fantasy into imaginative vignettes that are emotionally resonant and delightfully unsettling. Carmen Maria Machado participated in the 2018 Virginia Festival of the Book, and her latest book, In the Dream House: A Memoir, was published in 2019.
America (2021) by Fernando Valverde
Valverde is widely regarded as one of the most important younger Spanish-language poets. In America, his vibrant voice and convictions are translated and introduced by Carolyn Forché, herself a world-renowned poet of witness. Valverde was one of the Virginia Festival of the Book’s featured authors in 2018. America is his last bilingual book, and his final work, Desgracia (Visor) was published in 2022.
“In Fernando Valverde’s América, ‘sorrow is ancient.’ Mournfully lyrical, politically sharp, with a sweeping view of American roots, dysfunctions, and ideals — as if from above, and yet also from within — this is a book that deconstructs the legacy of empire.” —Copper Canyon Press
The Hurting Kind (2022) by Ada Limon
The Hurting Kind is an astonishing collection about interconnectedness — between the human and nonhuman, ancestors and ourselves — from National Book Critics Circle Award winner, National Book Award finalist, and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.
“Ada Limón’s sixth and latest collection is a testament to the power of sensitivity. As with her previous award-winning books, The Carrying and Bright Dead Things, these poems are acutely aware of the natural world. And Limón has a knack for acknowledging nature’s little mysteries in order to fully capture its history and abundance. For her, evidence of poetry is everywhere. She connects big ideas—fear, isolation, even death—with little details, like field sparrows, a box of matches or ‘the body moving / freely.’ Above all, The Hurting Kind asks for our attention to stay tender.” —Jeevika Verma, NPR
Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women (2023), edited by Sandra Guzman
Daughters of Latin America collects the intergenerational voices of Latine women across time and space, capturing the power, strength, and creativity of these visionary writers, leaders, scholars, and activists — including 24 Indigenous voices.
An eclectic and inclusive time capsule spanning centuries, genres, and geographical and linguistic diversity, Daughters of Latin America is divided into 13 parts representing the 13 Mayan Moons, each cycle honoring a different theme. More than a collection of writings, Daughters of Latin America is a resurrection of ancestral literary inheritance as well as a celebration of the rising voices encouraged and nurtured by those who came before them.
Venom & Vow (2023) by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliot McLemore
Subverting the standard “enemies to lovers” trope, this novel follows two unlikely allies as they collaborate to break curses that threaten their kingdom. Centering a transgender prince and a bigender assassin, the McLemores build a lush fantasy with complex characters and conflicts. Just like Anna-Marie’s previous works, the world they imagine in Venom & Vow is vibrant and authentic. An expert of magical realism, Anna-Marie McLemore joined our 2022 YA Fantasy panel to discuss their 2022 YA novel Lakelore.
Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America (Coming Oct. 2023) by Sandra A. Gutierrez
In 2012, Sandra demonstrated recipes from her then-new cookbook The New Southern Latino Table at The Happy Cook as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book. In this monumental work, Sandra examines common ingredients and shares over three hundred everyday dishes. Featuring beautiful full-spread photography, this cookbook will help you establish fundamental kitchen skills while learning about cooking traditions from across Latin America.
“Latinísimo is as practical and day-to-day useful as it is revelatory. Whether you’re new to the culinary heritage of Latin America or you grew up in the culture and know the traditions in your bones, there’s something to learn on every page and something deeply satisfying to savor in every recipe—each sparkles with Sandra’s genius as a scholar, storyteller, brilliant cook and generous teacher. Latinísimo is a book to treasure today and to pass on to a new generation of cooks tomorrow” —Dorie Greenspan, New York Times Bestselling Cookbook Author
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (2022) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia, bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night, reimagines The Island of Doctor Moreau in this lavish historical drama set in 19th-century Mexico.
“The brilliant and unstoppable Silvia Moreno-Garcia continues to weave her magic in The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, a smart, sinister fable about social inequality and exploitation, isolation and abuse of power. Both lacerating and deeply empathetic, this story satisfies the reader on every page.” —Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and When the Stars Go Dark
