Most Anticipated November Releases

Here are a few of the books we’re excited to add to our TBR pile this November. Below you’ll find fun romances, captivating novels, and lively children’s books. Happy reading!

The Cracks We Bear by Catalina Infante | Translated by Michelle Mirabella | ADULT FICTION

Motherhood is terrifying, thinks Laura, feeling small and helpless as she holds her newborn daughter. Instead of joy, she feels fear, and then anger at her own late mother for her absence. The Cracks We Bear opens as a story about new motherhood. Soon, however, it reveals itself to be an exploration of memory and trauma as Laura starts to recall her childhood in Chile. Born in exile to staunchly communist parents, she returns to Chile with her mother after the collapse of the Pinochet dictatorship. In the fledgling democracy she grows up in, topics of capitalism and communism are ever present. Laura's reflections, born from personal experience, are interwoven with raw and honest memories of her family life. Borrowing elements from the Bildungsroman, and pulling from the Latin American short story tradition, Catalina Infante recounts Laura's past in vignettes. Piece by piece, the short chapters come together like a reconstructed vase, bearing its cracks.

Xolo by Donna Barba Higuera | Illustrated by Mariana Ruiz Johnson | CHILDREN’S

It is said the mighty feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, helped create the earth. He is the hero who stole back the bones of humanity from the evil god of the Underworld. In his quest to bring humans to the earth, Quetzalcoatl's dog-headed twin brother, Xolotl, was present. Not much is known of Xolotl, the god of lightning, death, and misfortune. A monster.

This is what really happened.

From Newbery Medalist Donna Barba Higuera and illustrator Mariana Ruiz Johnson comes a singular reimagining of the Aztec myth of the origin of man--and man's best friend--that is nothing short of a modern masterpiece.

The Year of the Wind by Karina Pacheco Medrano | ADULT FICTION

Nina, a Peruvian writer in Spain on the eve of the pandemic, is pulled back into her nation’s fraught history after a fleeting encounter with a woman who is a doppelgänger of Bárbara, a cousin lost to time. The games, the candor, and the secrets of her youth come alive again, but these memories are tinged with disquiet, and what unfolds takes Nina back to a village nestled in the Andes where she must confront the terrors that stalked Peru in the early 1980s. As she travels from Cusco to Apurimac to uncover Bárbara’s fate, Nina begins to weave a new cloth of memory. She learns more about Bárbara’s political radicalization and involvement with the Shining Path, the Maoist terrorist group that instigated a bloody period of political violence in which tens of thousands of mostly indigenous Peruvians disappeared or were killed.

In her first novel to be translated into English, Karina Pacheco Medrano explores how war transforms family stories and complicates the distinction between prey and hunter. Part bildungsroman, part detective novel, The Year of the Wind records a significant chapter in Peruvian history rarely considered in the literature of political violence, exploring the anonymous stories marked by horror, loss, bewilderment, and, in some cases, redemption.

False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez | Translated by Natasha Wimmer | ADULT FICTION

In this multivoiced novel, employing a dazzling range of narrative styles from noir to autofiction, Carlos Manuel Álvarez brings together the stories of many people from all walks of life through a series of interconnected daisy chains. From Havana to Mexico City to Miami, from New York to Paris to Berlin, whether toiling in a barber shop, roaring in Yankee Stadium, lost in the Louvre, intensely competing in a chess hall in Cuba, plotting a theft, or on a junket for émigré dissidents in Berlin, these characters learn that while they may seem to be on the move, in reality they are paralyzed, immersed in a fake war waged with little real passion.

The fractured narrative, filled with extraordinary portraits of ordinary people, reflects the disintegration that comes from being uprooted. At the same time it is full of tenderness, moments of joy and profound release. False War confirms Carlos Manuel Álvarez as one of the indispensable voices of his generation in Latin American letters.

How We Play the Game by Alexis Nedd | YOUNG ADULT

Zora Lyon plays to dominate. And as a no-nonsense, strategic prodigy of Wizzard Game's viral battle royale, she has all the skills she needs. So when Wizzard offers their top players a chance to participate in a summer academy designed to crown a national champion, Zora knows she has what it takes to be the last player standing.

But Wizzard isn't just looking for winners-they're looking to create viral gaming superstars. Suddenly, Zora finds herself competing against famous esports influencers who can play the game and boost their follower count. That includes Ivan Hunt, the insufferably good-looking fan-favorite streamer, whom she betrayed to cement her spot at the academy.

As their matches broadcast to Wizzard's fanbase, Zora's ruthless playing style and obvious lack of streaming experience immediately sends her to the bottom of the class. With her dreams of impressing Wizzard's cofounder Brian Juno in jeopardy, Zora will do just about anything to fix her image-even if that means pretending to date Ivan to gain some popularity points. What can go wrong with a little white lie?

Look Up by Azul López | Translated by Shook | CHILDREN’S

Many, many years ago, a man was immensely curious about the sky, his curiosity as big as the sky itself. He would spend all day looking up, his eyes reflecting clouds or stars. But as time went on, his gaze was brought to earth, and he joined his neighbors in looking down, putting one foot in front of the other--until the passing days became a mysterious labyrinth that opened before him, leading him somewhere secret.

With the power of a myth and the finesse of a watercolor, Look Up opens up the worlds within worlds that only careful attention can reveal. Award-winning author and artist Azul López welcomes us into subtle and immersive acrylic paintings in a tale of wonder lost and found, and of the courage required to turn one's gaze in another direction.

My Fair Señor by Alana Quintana Albertson | ADULT FICTION

San Diego-based model and influencer Jaime Montez isn’t the heir—or even the spare—to his family’s Taco King fast-food empire. So after he’s asked to be the face of yet another non-Hispanic, celebrity-owned tequila company, Jaime decides to reinvent his role in the family dynasty: he’s going to start his own liquor brand. The problem? He’s an agave amateur. He needs help if he expects to ever master mezcal. And he has the perfect teacher in mind. . . .

Alma Garcia is the toast of Tiburon. Having passed the grueling examen de Consejo Regulador del Tequila in Mexico, Alma used her extensive knowledge as a certified catadora to open the hottest mezcal bar in Marin County. When her college flame returns with a tempting proposition—he’ll promote her business in the local Cinco de Mayo Street Festival if she’ll bring him into the world of tequila—it’s as if the holiday spirits are bringing Jaime and Alma back together.

She has plenty to teach him about tequila—from harvesting the agave to taking a proper sip, and even introduces him to farmers who grow and bottle their own local mezcals. Their chemistry is intoxicating, but Jaime’s ulterior motives for reconnecting bring the threat of another serious love hangover, leaving them both to wonder if this second chance at romance is worth the shot. . . .

Frankenstein: The Complete Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro | ADULT FICTION

Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro, delves deep into the timeless tragedy of Victor Frankenstein—from his grisly experiments and the destruction wrought in their wake to his quest for redemption in the frigid Arctic—in this unforgettable reimagining of one of the most iconic literary works of all time.

Featuring stunning concept art, film stills, and behind-the-scenes photography, this official reproduction of the film’s complete screenplay invites readers into del Toro’s world as the classic story was adapted for the screen. With nuanced character development and poignant dialogue, the script brings fresh life to Shelley’s tale, exploring like never before the fractured relationship between creator and creation. From the tormented Victor Frankenstein to his tragic monster, del Toro’s unique artistic voice shines through every page, offering an immersive experience for fans of both the original novel and del Toro’s cinematic genius.

November 2025 Latinx Releases

ON SALE NOVEMBER 4

Prieta Is Dreaming by Gloria Anzaldúa | Edited by Kelli D Zaytoun & Analouise Keating | ADULT FICTION

Best known for Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987), Gloria E. Anzaldúa was also a prolific fiction writer. Prieta Is Dreaming, a speculative novel-in-stories, follows the precocious Prieta from her childhood in South Texas to college and beyond as she tries to find her way in the world. Imbued with supernatural powers, Prieta traverses time, changes form, explores her desires, and defies convention. Started in the 1970s and revised up until Anzaldúa's death in 2004, Prieta Is Dreaming comes as a revelation, affirming Anzaldúa's place at the forefront of contemporary feminist, queer, and border theory, while transforming what we think about both her writing and ourselves. In these nineteen intertwined stories, we find some of Anzaldúa's most adventurous, inspired ideas about gender, sexuality, and the very nature of existence-as well as a character, la Prieta, as bold and memorable as the book itself.

My Daddy Speaks English, Mamá habla español by Mariane Rodriguez Dolce |Illustrated by Joe Cepeda | PICTURE BOOK

Early en la mañana,
Mamà drinks café.
Mi hermana drinks juice,
And Daddy drinks té.

Written with a combination of English and Spanish words that reflects the speech of a bilingual family, this story follows a child through her busy  day--breakfast with Mommy, Daddy, and big sister; at the library with Grandma; buying groceries with Mommy; dinner time; bathtime; storytime; and bedtime. Every event is filled with love and joy. Then she dreams sweet dreams–in both English and Spanish, of course!

Deeper Than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito | ADULT FICTION

One hundred years after the shipwreck of the Valbanera, known to history as the "poor man's Titanic," Mara Denis gets an assignment to report on the Canary Islands, where her ancestors lived before they moved to Cuba. Unexpectedly, she discovers that the grandmother her mother cherished was listed among the dead of the Valbanera, years before Mara's mother was even born. This fateful twist changes everything Mara thought she knew about her family and herself, and sends her on a quest to find the truth. If her great grandmother is a ghost, who is she and where did she come from?

In spare, beautiful writing, the author transports the reader to the Canary Islands and Cuba in the early part of the twentieth century and New York and Key West in the present. This is an epic tale of a young woman's passion for her beloved, as well as the redeeming power of family secrets at last uncovered.

The Cracks We Bear by Catalina Infante | Translated by Michelle Mirabella | ADULT FICTION

Motherhood is terrifying, thinks Laura, feeling small and helpless as she holds her newborn daughter. Instead of joy, she feels fear, and then anger at her own late mother for her absence. The Cracks We Bear opens as a story about new motherhood. Soon, however, it reveals itself to be an exploration of memory and trauma as Laura starts to recall her childhood in Chile. Born in exile to staunchly communist parents, she returns to Chile with her mother after the collapse of the Pinochet dictatorship. In the fledgling democracy she grows up in, topics of capitalism and communism are ever present. Laura's reflections, born from personal experience, are interwoven with raw and honest memories of her family life. Borrowing elements from the Bildungsroman, and pulling from the Latin American short story tradition, Catalina Infante recounts Laura's past in vignettes. Piece by piece, the short chapters come together like a reconstructed vase, bearing its cracks.

Xolo by Donna Barba Higuera | Illustrated by Mariana Ruiz Johnson | CHILDREN’S

It is said the mighty feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, helped create the earth. He is the hero who stole back the bones of humanity from the evil god of the Underworld. In his quest to bring humans to the earth, Quetzalcoatl's dog-headed twin brother, Xolotl, was present. Not much is known of Xolotl, the god of lightning, death, and misfortune. A monster.

This is what really happened.

From Newbery Medalist Donna Barba Higuera and illustrator Mariana Ruiz Johnson comes a singular reimagining of the Aztec myth of the origin of man--and man's best friend--that is nothing short of a modern masterpiece.

An Eye for an I: Growing Up with Blindness, Bigotry, and Family Mental Illness by James Francisco Bonilla | NONFICTION

"Jovencito, it's going to be lonely being different and yet strong in this world," James Francisco Bonilla's grandmother told him when he was ten. He had come home after defending himself against a bully who had threatened him with violence, making it clear that he didn't care that James was blind. But despite the isolation James felt in childhood, he would come to commit his life to leveraging his differences and strengths toward a collective fight for justice. James's memoir, An Eye for an I, is an inspiring account of how he found a path through his own suffering to make a difference for others.

Born with congenital cataracts, James had limited vision in his right eye and none in his left. At age nine, after a classmate hurled a horseshoe at his face in a racially motivated assault, James's right eye was injured and he became legally blind. At home, too, he feared physical violence, experiencing the unpredictable outbursts of a single mother suffering from severe mental illness. Throughout his youth as a Puerto Rican New Yorker, James was continually failed by educational systems that exposed him to one abuse after another. Searching for relief and inspiration, he discovered an unexpected solace in the natural world, spiritual encounters with Mother Earth that led him toward both personal healing and advocacy.

At nineteen, a breakthrough in medical technology restored the sight in his right eye, and James recognized his unique perspective on the struggles of the disabled and marginalized in American life--and his intense will to make a difference. He seeks to understand generational trauma, and in documenting his growth--physically, mentally, and spiritually--his memoir exemplifies the introspection necessary to participate in truly equitable and effective movement building. An Eye for an I presents both James and his aggressors with refreshing nuance and humility, inviting readers to empathize, be inspired, and consider their own potential to be of service in a broken, yet beautiful, world.

The Year of the Wind by Karina Pacheco Medrano | ADULT FICTION

Nina, a Peruvian writer in Spain on the eve of the pandemic, is pulled back into her nation’s fraught history after a fleeting encounter with a woman who is a doppelgänger of Bárbara, a cousin lost to time. The games, the candor, and the secrets of her youth come alive again, but these memories are tinged with disquiet, and what unfolds takes Nina back to a village nestled in the Andes where she must confront the terrors that stalked Peru in the early 1980s. As she travels from Cusco to Apurimac to uncover Bárbara’s fate, Nina begins to weave a new cloth of memory. She learns more about Bárbara’s political radicalization and involvement with the Shining Path, the Maoist terrorist group that instigated a bloody period of political violence in which tens of thousands of mostly indigenous Peruvians disappeared or were killed.

False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez | Translated by Natasha Wimmer | ADULT FICTION

In this multivoiced novel, employing a dazzling range of narrative styles from noir to autofiction, Carlos Manuel Álvarez brings together the stories of many people from all walks of life through a series of interconnected daisy chains. From Havana to Mexico City to Miami, from New York to Paris to Berlin, whether toiling in a barber shop, roaring in Yankee Stadium, lost in the Louvre, intensely competing in a chess hall in Cuba, plotting a theft, or on a junket for émigré dissidents in Berlin, these characters learn that while they may seem to be on the move, in reality they are paralyzed, immersed in a fake war waged with little real passion.

The fractured narrative, filled with extraordinary portraits of ordinary people, reflects the disintegration that comes from being uprooted. At the same time it is full of tenderness, moments of joy and profound release. False War confirms Carlos Manuel Álvarez as one of the indispensable voices of his generation in Latin American letters.

ON SALE NOVEMBER 11

My Excellency: Comedy in Three Acts by Luis Rechani Agrait | Translated by William Carlos Williams | Edited by Jonathan Cohen | ADULT FICTION

William Carlos Williams's passion for his matrilineal Puerto Rican roots led him to visit Puerto Rico for the first time in 1941. There at a writers' conference, he befriended the playwright Luis Rechani Agrait, who gave him his play Mi señoría, staged to acclaim the previous year.

My Excellency, as Williams calls the play in his translation, is a political farce set in an "imaginary country" that resembles Puerto Rico during the Great Depression, with its high unemployment and labor unrest. The play focuses on the plight of an idealistic but naive man, Buenaventura Padilla, in a completely corrupt political system. Through an unscrupulous election, he becomes the nation's leader.

The play is successful as a satire largely because of Buenaventura's hilarious language--recreated by Williams--with its pompous style combined with stunning malapropisms and clownish errors in history and grammar. The play's very title is a laughable malapropism. My Excellency shows the corrupting power of success and the tragic flaw of materialism. Driving the comedy in Williams's translation is his firm command of the play's dialogue interwoven with popular idioms in which the charm of pure nonsense abounds.

Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots During Climate Displacement by Jessica Hernandez Ph.D. | NONFICTION

Dr. Jessica Hernandez offers readers an Indigenous, Global-South lens on the climate crisis, delivering a compelling and urgent exploration of its causes—and its costs. She shares how the impacts of colonial climate catastrophe—from warming oceans to forced displacement of settler ontologies—can only be addressed at the root if we reorient toward Indigenous science and follow the lead of Indigenous peoples and communities.

Growing Papaya Trees explores:

• Energy as a sociopolitical issue

• The interconnectedness of natural disasters, sociopolitical turmoil, and forced migration

• Our oceans, our forests, and our Indigenous futures

• Moving Indigenous science from mere acknowledgement into real action

• How to nourish Indigenous roots when displaced beyond borders

Carnaval Fever by Yuliana Ortiz Ruano | Translated by Madeleine Arenivar | ADULT FICTION

Ainhoa lives a protected life within the walls of her grandmother’s house in the neighborhood of Esmeraldas in Ecuador. Surrounded by a gaggle of aunts who love and teach her, Ainhoa narrates moments that evoke the powerful presence of music and dance in her daily life while also confronting familial violence over the course of Carnaval season. Seen through Ainhoa’s innocent eyes, the difficult themes that have defined the South American country’s recent history, including economic hardship, migration, and upheaval, are but one side of an enormous cultural richness steeped in the joy, music, and vibrancy of this singular community of women.

Following the contours of Carnaval, and sublimely translated by Madeleine Arenivar, Yuliana Ortiz Ruano’s sensorial and viscerally alive novel brims with poetry and exuberance, as well as the pain of an existence lived in the forgotten corners of the world.

The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera | Translated by Christina Macsweeney | NONFICTION

Sifting through the writer's archives at Princeton, Barrera is repeatedly thwarted in her attempt to fully know her subject. Traditional means of research--the correspondence, photos, and books--serve only to complicate and cloud the woman and her work.Who was Elena Garro, really?

She was a writer, a founder of "magical realism," a dancer. A devotee to the tarot and theI Ching. A socialite and activist on behalf of indigenous Mexicans. She was a mother and a lover who repeatedly shook off (and cheated on) her manipulative husband, Nobel-laureate Octavio Paz. And above all, she wrote with simmering anger and glittering imagination.

The Queen of Swords is a portrait of a woman that also serves as an alternative history of Mexico City; a cry-out for justice; and an homage to the unknowable. It transcends mere biography, supplanting something tidy and authoritative for a sprawling experiment in understanding.

The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes | ADULT FICTION

April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just . . . walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest—an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice.

The Week of Colors by Elena Garro| Translated by Megan McDowell | ADULT FICTION

A woman flits between two realities centuries apart, as scenes from the violent conquest of Mexico bleed their way into her comfortable contemporary life. Two little girls visit the home of a sorcerer who tortures women named after the days of the week. Girls become dogs, a laborer hides human bones in bricks he'll use to build a new development, and an old woman appears at an acquaintance's door one night with a knife and a bone-chilling confession.

With The Week of Colors, Elena Garro laid the groundwork for the literary movements that would shape the landscape of Latin American fiction and beyond. Here you'll find the early roots of magical realism, feminist horror, and anticolonial speculative fiction. In The Week of Colors, Garro highlights the violence in our history, our homes, and our hearts, in vivid color.

Pandora by Ana Paula Pacheco | Translated by Julia Sanches | ADULT FICTION

Ana, a literature professor, plans her remote classes while confined to her apartment during lockdown. Her lover, Alice, has died of Covid. In her place are a series of animals that demand Ana's care and attention: an overbearing pangolin, a swarm of insects, a giant bat.

Amid changes in medication and fraught faculty meetings, Ana's grip on reality loosens. She begins to devise a syllabus on the financialization of art and life, posing questions about labor and intimacy she will use her own body to answer. Her apartment fills with creatures, her teaching slides into absurd allegory, and her sense of what is real, permissible, or politically legible fractures.

Rescued Me by Nestor “The Boss” Gomez | NONFICTION

Nestor Gomez was sure he had found love with his new girlfriend. The only problem? His girlfriend was still in love with a real dog. No, really-a seventy-pound pitbull mix.

And after having been...well, nearly emasculated by a dog that bit him high on the thigh when he was a young boy, Nestor had developed a paralyzing phobia of our four-legged friends. Soon he was faced with a dilemma...could he learn to love the creatures that had aroused in him such terror, or would he lose the love of his life on account of her pet? (To say nothing of all the other little challenges that loom large in life--a hand-me-down-mattress with poky springs, nosy neighbors with belligerent blogs, pesky police, and an evil cat.)

How We Play the Game by Alexis Nedd | YOUNG ADULT

Zora Lyon plays to dominate. And as a no-nonsense, strategic prodigy of Wizzard Game's viral battle royale, she has all the skills she needs. So when Wizzard offers their top players a chance to participate in a summer academy designed to crown a national champion, Zora knows she has what it takes to be the last player standing.

But Wizzard isn't just looking for winners-they're looking to create viral gaming superstars. Suddenly, Zora finds herself competing against famous esports influencers who can play the game and boost their follower count. That includes Ivan Hunt, the insufferably good-looking fan-favorite streamer, whom she betrayed to cement her spot at the academy.

As their matches broadcast to Wizzard's fanbase, Zora's ruthless playing style and obvious lack of streaming experience immediately sends her to the bottom of the class. With her dreams of impressing Wizzard's cofounder Brian Juno in jeopardy, Zora will do just about anything to fix her image-even if that means pretending to date Ivan to gain some popularity points. What can go wrong with a little white lie?

ON SALE NOVEMBER 18

Look Up by Azul López | Translated by Shook | CHILDREN’S

Many, many years ago, a man was immensely curious about the sky, his curiosity as big as the sky itself. He would spend all day looking up, his eyes reflecting clouds or stars. But as time went on, his gaze was brought to earth, and he joined his neighbors in looking down, putting one foot in front of the other--until the passing days became a mysterious labyrinth that opened before him, leading him somewhere secret.

With the power of a myth and the finesse of a watercolor, Look Up opens up the worlds within worlds that only careful attention can reveal. Award-winning author and artist Azul López welcomes us into subtle and immersive acrylic paintings in a tale of wonder lost and found, and of the courage required to turn one's gaze in another direction.

States of Defeat: Us Imaginaries of Revolutionary Central America by Eric A Vázquez | NONFCITION

The thwarted Central American revolutions during the latter half of the twentieth century marked a watershed in what had become a global anti-imperialist movement striving for a more egalitarian future. Examining a range of documentary, literary, and artistic works, States of Defeat looks at how left-wing intellectuals in the United States reckoned with the fallout from these defeats through wide-ranging creative expressions of indignation, cynicism, and grief.

As he argues for the historical significance of Central America in the transition out of the Cold War, Eric A. Vázquez shows how the unfulfilled revolutionary ambitions in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala prompted intellectuals in the United States to reexamine their desires for radical transformation. Analyzing novels, memoirs, anthropological writings, documentary film, and archival materials from the 1980s and 1990s, he demonstrates how these texts prefigured later anxieties about secrecy and securitization, the rise of nongovernmental organizational forms, and state failure.

Examining the legacies of unfulfilled anti-imperialist political ideals and their implications for the global left in the twenty-first century, States of Defeat offers a renewed perspective on the function of Central America in the US imagination.

Byzantine Bembé: New York by Manny Vega / Nueva York Por Manny Vega | Edited by Angel ‘Monxo’ López | NONFICTION

Manny Vega's art can be found in the form of mosaics and murals adorning street walls, subway stations, cultural centres, and business facades throughout New York's East Harlem. This lushly illustrated volume covers the full range of Vega's artistic output, from carefully crafted mosaics, including female figures and stylized album covers, to prints and works on paper. This bi-lingual Spanish/English study also incorporates essays that explore Vega's relationship with New York, murals as a medium, and the links between his work and music. Throughout the volume, Vega's focus on the Puerto- Rican experience in New York shines through and highlights the influence of the city's cultural mix on his unique art.

The Sky of Sacrifice by Rosalia Aguilar Solace | ADULT FICTION

As the Great Library of Tomorrow prepares for a momentous celebration, Nu embraces both newfound love and her role as the Sage of Truth. However, if fresh nightmares prove to be the harbingers of Suttaru's malevolent forces, romance must take a back seat to her responsibilities.

When a savage act sends shock waves through the Great Library, the return of an old friend brings to light a hidden relic from the Book of Wisdom's past.

To stop the enemy, the Sages must pursue multiple paths. For Nu and Robin, this means traveling the realms in search of a mysterious figure from long ago. Meanwhile, Veer and his companions brave a realm of darkness and despair, where even the strongest can become undone ...

ON SALE NOVEMBER 25

My Fair Señor by Alana Quintana Albertson | ADULT FICTION

San Diego-based model and influencer Jaime Montez isn’t the heir—or even the spare—to his family’s Taco King fast-food empire. So after he’s asked to be the face of yet another non-Hispanic, celebrity-owned tequila company, Jaime decides to reinvent his role in the family dynasty: he’s going to start his own liquor brand. The problem? He’s an agave amateur. He needs help if he expects to ever master mezcal. And he has the perfect teacher in mind. . . .

Alma Garcia is the toast of Tiburon. Having passed the grueling examen de Consejo Regulador del Tequila in Mexico, Alma used her extensive knowledge as a certified catadora to open the hottest mezcal bar in Marin County. When her college flame returns with a tempting proposition—he’ll promote her business in the local Cinco de Mayo Street Festival if she’ll bring him into the world of tequila—it’s as if the holiday spirits are bringing Jaime and Alma back together.

She has plenty to teach him about tequila—from harvesting the agave to taking a proper sip, and even introduces him to farmers who grow and bottle their own local mezcals. Their chemistry is intoxicating, but Jaime’s ulterior motives for reconnecting bring the threat of another serious love hangover, leaving them both to wonder if this second chance at romance is worth the shot. . . .

Frankenstein: The Complete Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro | ADULT FICTION

Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro, delves deep into the timeless tragedy of Victor Frankenstein—from his grisly experiments and the destruction wrought in their wake to his quest for redemption in the frigid Arctic—in this unforgettable reimagining of one of the most iconic literary works of all time.

Featuring stunning concept art, film stills, and behind-the-scenes photography, this official reproduction of the film’s complete screenplay invites readers into del Toro’s world as the classic story was adapted for the screen. With nuanced character development and poignant dialogue, the script brings fresh life to Shelley’s tale, exploring like never before the fractured relationship between creator and creation. From the tormented Victor Frankenstein to his tragic monster, del Toro’s unique artistic voice shines through every page, offering an immersive experience for fans of both the original novel and del Toro’s cinematic genius.

Author-Illustrator Q&A: Carlos Aponte on the Inspiration Behind ‘Precious’

Precious begins somberly. Pedrito, a young boy from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, is at home staring at his phone. On the screen is a photo of him with his father, who had left for the United States to work and support their family. A few feet away from Pedrito are his mother and brother, Juan, who also appear sad.

“When Papi was home, he and Juan would play guitar, and Pedrito used to sing,” author Carlos Aponte writes. “But now, without Papi, nobody is in the mood.”

When a hurricane rips through their town, Pedrito finds a dog in the wreckage and brings her home. Soon after, he must return the dog to her rightful owner. That night, Pedrito is reminded of a beloved song. A song that means a lot to many Puerto Ricans both on the island and in the diaspora. Perhaps music can help get him and his community through?

In Precious, the Pura Belpré Honor winning Aponte brings us a beautiful and tender-hearted story about a boy who holds onto community and what is most dear in trying times. Aponte’s illustrations of digital ink and pastel brushes bring an added vibrancy to Pedrito and the people in his town, as well as their island. Precious is out now from Nancy Paulsen Books, and so is Preciosa, its Spanish edition.

Aponte spoke with Latinx in Publishing about the inspiration behind his book, its spirit, and much more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo: Congratulations on Precious/Preciosa. What inspired this story?

Carlos Aponte (CA): When I was working on my previous book, Across the Bay, I went to Puerto Rico a few months after Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico was completely destroyed. I arrived there in January to be with my family, but also to write. Sometimes you want to write a book about Puerto Rico, but you have to be there to get the feeling and the emotion. When you’re in a place, you feel something that you cannot feel outside the place. So I went to Old San Juan. It was all closed, and it was very depressing. I was very sad. I cried. 

There’s a little ferry that goes from Cataño to San Juan. That week, they decided that, no matter what, they were going to celebrate the (Fiesta de la) Calle de San Sebastián. It’s a celebration they do every year in San Sebastian Street. So I took the ferry and, on my way back from Cataño to San Juan, I saw a little kid the way I imagined my character. And while I was there, I decided that I wanted to write about the hurricane. But I couldn’t do it right away, because sometimes you get too emotional and you cannot write. 

Finally, after many years, I did a lot of research and said to myself, I think I have enough information to start writing. Then an idea came to me about a little dog that got lost. In Puerto Rico after the hurricane, many dogs disappeared and some were left behind, unfortunately. I also thought about “Preciosa” and how it would be great to incorporate the song. And I did. Then I found out where Rafael Hernández was born, and I set the story there. So everything came together and that’s how I ended up with this story.

AC: Your story centers on Pedrito, a young boy from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico who survives a hurricane with his mother, brother, and community. In the book, Pedrito likens the hurricane to a wolf. What message were you hoping to send by describing the hurricane that way?

CA: I think it’s more of his imagination – and how kids see things. It’s really from my nephews when they were very young. They thought that the hurricane was like a wolf – the sound and the whole thing. Of course, in Puerto Rico we don’t have wolves. But a hurricane is a monster, and I wanted to incorporate in the illustration the wolf and how the eye of the hurricane becomes the eyes of the wolf. And inside the wolf you see everything floating, like he’s devouring everything that’s in front of him. I also liked the idea that it was a dream. When Pedrito woke up, he thought the saliva of the wolf was falling on his head, but it was really water from the crack of the ceiling (due to the hurricane). 

There’s so much in this book. I believe in dreams, and I have many dreams that tell you what’s going to happen in a week or so. So Pedrito has that kind of ability. It’s a little bit of a psychic thing, like, Oh, he had a dream, but the dream kind of really came true. It’s kind of magical realism in that sense. That’s how I believe. I have many dreams, and I understand what is going to happen or I have a feeling. So I wanted to incorporate those feelings into Pedrito.

“No matter where you are, if you’re from Puerto Rico, you have the island in your heart. No matter where you are, you are connected to that. You belong to that. ”

AC: You were raised in Puerto Rico. What does the song, “Preciosa” by composer Rafael Hernández Marín mean to you?

CA: I can’t explain. “Preciosa” is the island. It’s where I grew up. It’s my family. It’s everything that I know. I’ve been so emotional about my previous book and this book because it has to do with many personal issues and with the island. What the island went through was very devastating, and everybody was really emotional about that.

AC: After the hurricane, Pedrito rescues a dog from the wreckage. And later he has to give it up. The story has this spirit about helping one another – not just your neighbors, but animals, too. How would you describe the spirit of this story?

CA: There are so many subtleties in this story. It might look like a simple story, but there’s so many things happening. I believe that when you do something good, good things will come back to you. Pedrito rescued this dog and later had to give it up to its original owner. And then later he receives a puppy from Luna, which is a gift to him for being such a good kid.

Another example are the elderly people that live in Puerto Rico alone; the lady who the family helps in the beginning, and the man who the dog belongs to. That’s a man who lives by himself. The reason why I put that in the book is because my mother took care of many older people who lived by themselves because their families never bothered to come and help them. My mother inspired me, too, because there are so many people living by themselves, who have no one to take care of them. That was also part of the story. 

There’s also the brain drain – people who have to leave the island for economical reasons or financial reasons. The book is dedicated to the diaspora. It could be the diaspora from Santo Domingo, it could be the diaspora from Puerto Rico. We’re islands. We’re the Caribbean. I’ve heard people say, ‘Oh, but you live in America. You’re fine.’ I say, ‘You don’t know how hard it is for us to live here and not live in Puerto Rico – our island, or house, where we came from.’ And so I wanted to dedicate this to those people who have Puerto Rico in their heart.

AC: Since Pedrito’s father left for the United States to work, life in Aguadilla for the boy and his family isn’t quite the same. What was the inspiration behind the decision to have this father not be in the picture for most of the book?

CA: I just wanted to show how families sacrifice themselves to find a better life for their family. It happens. I have seen many families whose father leaves first to find a job, and then bring the family to the place they moved. Both my sisters had to leave Puerto Rico and now live in Florida. That’s part of it. I don’t do any book unless I feel I’m connected to that reality, of that story. I feel that’s very important. 

AC: What do you hope readers take away from Precious/Preciosa?
CA: No matter where you are, if you’re from Puerto Rico, you have the island in your heart. No matter where you are, you are connected to that. You belong to that. Your spirit, your soul, your heart’s in Puerto Rico. Your body might be here, but your emotions and everything is there.

---

Carlos Aponte received a Pura Belpré Honor for Across the Bay and wrote and illustrated A Season to Bee. Carlos is a faculty member at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her debut book, Bodega Stories, will be published in Fall 2026 from the University Press of Florida. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family.

Author Q&A: Jaquira Díaz On Debut Novel, ‘This Is the Only Kingdom’

To start, This Is the Only Kingdom grips readers with its prologue. It is May 1993, and a cane cutter somewhere in Puerto Rico discovers a gruesome scene in the golden cañaverales: a dead body. 

The painful beginning of Jaquira Díaz’s debut novel is a marker of what’s to come. This Is the Only Kingdom (out now from Algonquin Books) is an immersive and affecting origin story about one Puerto Rican family through the years. Set between a working-class barrio on the island and Miami, the book largely follows Maricarmen and her daughter Nena as they struggle through a new reality in the aftermath of a murder. Díaz treats time in her epic novel with delicate hands and a keen eye for the many societal challenges that face Puerto Ricans and members of the LGBTQ+ community. We meet Maricarmen as a 16-year-old who falls for Rey, a local musician who is in and out of juvie. Soon, she finds herself trying to make a home for both of them, Rey’s younger brother, Tito, and their baby girl, Nenuska (known as Nena). Then one day, that home Maricarmen has been so desperately trying to keep together crumbles before her.

More than a decade later, Nena is now a teenager herself. She is unlike the other girls at her high school, and unlike what others expect a girl from el Caserío to be like. She is also exploring her sexual identity, all while finding her place in society. After a horrific discovery, mother and daughter are plunged into another grief, this time having to navigate a murder investigation.

Much like she did in her Whiting Award-winning memoir, Ordinary Girls, Díaz’s writing in This Is the Only Kingdom reaches inside readers’ hearts and does not let go. The novel is beautiful and heartbreaking in its scope, with Díaz not turning away at all but leaning towards themes of love, loss, rejection and resilience. The author spoke with Latinx in Publishing about the inspiration behind her debut novel, the book’s many themes, and much more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

“I wanted to tell a story about flawed characters who were failing each other and failing themselves. Who were failing, but kept trying to show up for each other. The way that this story unfolded was just two characters who fell deeply in love, but who were very, very flawed.”

Amaris Castillo: Congratulations on This Is the Only Kingdom. This is your debut novel. What inspired this story?

Jaquira Díaz (JD): I have been thinking about this story since I was a kid growing up in el Caserío. This was a story that, at first, my dad passed down to me. Not the whole story, just bits and pieces about Rey. I’ve been thinking about Rey’s story for a really long time, and I always thought that I would write this as a nonfiction book. That I would write the whole history, the trial, everything that happened after his death. 

Then as I started writing, I realized that Rey’s story started changing. It became this fictional story. I realized I couldn’t write a nonfiction book, because the characters were demanding something else. So I created this fictional family in this fictional place that is kind of like el Caserío Padre Rivera, but not quite. The story just took on a life of its own. But the inspiration for it was definitely the story that my father told me years ago, that I then started hearing from other people in el Caserío. My own family remembered the real-life version of Rey, who is not like this character at all. The story that’s in the book is fictional. There are some similarities, but everything is actually invented.

AC: Your novel is a family origin story and follows Maricarmen and Rey, who is known as Rey el Cantante. Their love story is complicated, and there are times when that love is called into question. What can you tell us about their love story and its nuances?

JD: That’s such a great question. I 100% believe in love. But I don’t believe in love the way that it’s usually portrayed in love stories; how everybody’s perfect and how people live happily ever after. I wanted to tell a story about flawed characters who were failing each other and failing themselves. Who were failing, but kept trying to show up for each other. The way that this story unfolded was just two characters who fell deeply in love, but who were very, very flawed. In the end, everything was not perfect, because people are human. And humans are not perfect. I wanted to tell a story that was deeply flawed, and that was much more representative of the way that we live and love.

AC: Your book touches on many themes – poverty, racism, drug addiction, family estrangement, LGTBQ isolation and acceptance. You weave all these themes in an unflinching manner. What was it like to weave all these themes through your characters?

JD: I’m thinking about two things. First, the mother-daughter relationship was really hard for me. I was right in the last two chapters of the book when my mom died. Even though I had been preparing myself for years, because she was sick for a very long time, it was sudden and unexpected. And I was right in the middle of writing the last chapter, which has to do with the mother-daughter relationship. I really struggled trying to put that chapter together, and trying to write a mother-daughter relationship that felt real. That still felt human and flawed, but real, and where there was redemption and understanding. I kept having to pause and think, This is not my mom. It’s not a memoir. This is a fictional family. So it was really hard to keep trying to finish it, and then stopping and starting and stopping and starting. That was the most difficult chapter to get through. 

There were also the chapters that are set in the pharmacy in Miami Beach. Those were actually based on my real life. I worked in two different pharmacies when I was a teenager, and it was right when Miami became one of the epicenters of the AIDS epidemic. I had a close friend who died of AIDS, and he was very young. So to put myself back in that mindset, I definitely thought of him. He’s not the character (in the book), but I definitely thought of my time with him and how close we were, the things we did together, how we talked to each other, and how we talked around things. 

I thought about that time when I was writing that chapter, and I thought about family estrangement for queer people back then. It was 1995, ‘96, ‘97. It was a very different time. I had friends and I had a community because Miami Beach was a place that became like a gay city. Everybody went there to find community when they were diagnosed with HIV, so it was a community that was simultaneously growing but also disappearing. It was always changing. It was always kind of in a liminal state, where I would meet people and then they would disappear three months later. And I wouldn’t hear from them again. We all knew what happened. I was 16, 17 years old, experiencing this. I was closeted, and watching people in my community struggling with their whole lives, without their families. That was one of the most difficult things to write about.

“I tend to think of writing and music as a kind of conversation. When I’m writing, I write to music and so I’m always thinking about that rhythm.”

AC: Your chapters are titled after salsa songs. I recognized some like “El Cantante” by Héctor Lavoe and “El Gran Varón.” In your acknowledgements you write that you’re indebted to musicians. As a Puerto Rican, what does the salsa genre mean to you, and how has that significance changed as you grew into a writer?

JD: I grew up in a musical family, in a musical house. My dad was friends with a lot of musicians. He was the guy who drove them to their gigs, which is where I got part of that story. We always had a lot of books and a lot of records in our house. My dad is the kind of guy who loves to tell stories. He would put on something by Cheo Feliciano, and he would tell me the story. Or he would put Ismael Rivera, and he would tell me the story. These songs always came with stories about the singer, the writers, but also the story that’s in the song. One of the things that I loved about the golden era of salsa, is that all the songs had stories attached. There was always either a love story, or a story of Pedro Navaja. It was like a plot. For me, it was like another way of storytelling and another way of imagining myself as a writer — somebody who would write songs. I studied music as a kid and I always thought that I would make music. Now I just write about it. 

The way that this connects me to Puerto Rican culture is that every single one of these songs — even the ones that were written by Rubén Blades, who is Panamanian, to me feel very, very Puerto Rican. It has something to do with the lyrics, with actual words and refranes that some of these songs have, the way that the language is kind of connected to the body. When you think about bomba y plena and when you think about musicians, it’s not just the drums that are a part of the performance. It’s also the dancer’s body that is actually talking to the drums. So it’s like a conversation. I tend to think of writing and music as a kind of conversation. When I’m writing, I write to music and so I’m always thinking about that rhythm. I have a soundtrack that I listened to while I was writing this book, and all of the songs in the liner notes were part of this soundtrack. When I was writing the chapter, “El Cantante,” I was listening to “El Cantante.” When I was writing “El Ratón,” I was listening to “El Ratón.” When I was writing “Juanito Alimaña,” I was listening to “Juanito Alimaña.” It was so important for me to get something in the chapter that feels like the song. I’m not just using this title, but this is actually an embodiment of the song.

AC: El Caserío Padre Rivera is very much its own character in the novel. It’s where your main characters live out their lives. You dedicate the book to “mi gente del Caserío Padre Rivera.” Obviously you fictionalized this caserío for the novel in some ways. What do think people misunderstand most about el Caserío, or life in el Caserío?

JD: There’s much. El Caserío today is very different from el Caserío when I was growing up there. I remember going to school after leaving el Caserío for the first time and going to a different school. When the kids found out that I was from el Caserío, everybody was scared of me. I didn’t understand it, because we all just were a community. Us kids, we were always outside playing. Everybody looked out for us. It was a real place where you could feel the community. Everybody had birthday parties, and birthday parties were block parties. The whole community showed up. When somebody gave birth — people gave birth at home — the whole community showed up. 

Looking back, I have never, ever in my life felt the kind of sense of community that I felt when I lived there. And that’s one thing that people, I think, have no idea about. Yes, there were other things happening. Yes, there were drug dealers. Yes, there was crime. Yes, there were police showing up all the time. There were people showing up killed. All of these things did happen, but what I remember is that it was where I became a storyteller. 

AC: What do you hope readers take away from This Is the Only Kingdom?

JD: I definitely wrote this thinking about my community and thinking about us from a place of love, and thinking about how we show up and how we love to tell stories. Storytelling is such a big part of our culture, including storytelling through music, like salsa music. So I would like for them to take that away. That yes, the novel is its own story, it’s also connected to something that, for me, feels really, really important, which is the ways that we tell stories and use music to tell stories in our culture. That is really important.

---

Born in Puerto Rico, Jaquira Díaz was raised between Humacao, Fajardo, and Miami Beach. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize. 

The recipient of the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, the Alonzo Davis Fellowship from VCCA, two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from MacDowell, the Kenyon Review, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, Díaz has written for The Atlantic, The Guardian, Time Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Fader, and her stories, poems, and essays have been anthologized in The Best American Essays, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Best American Experimental Writing, and The Pushcart Prize anthology. In 2022, she held the Mina Hohenberg Darden Chair in Creative Writing at Old Dominion University’s MFA program and a Pabst Endowed Chair for Master Writers at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her debut book, Bodega Stories, will be published in Fall 2026 from the University Press of Florida. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family.

#DefendThePress - Letter to the Federal Communications Commission

Brendan Carr

Chairman

Federal Communications Commission

45 L Street, NE

Washington, DC 20554

Dear Chairman Carr,

In recent months, the American public has witnessed increasingly brazen examples of President Trump abusing his power to attack Americans’ constitutional rights, erode the Rule of Law, and advance his own personal and financial interests at the expense of the public interest. The undersigned organizations represent a broad and diverse group of people in the United States, and we write to express our deep alarm and condemnation of recent Federal Communications Commission actions that are aiding and abetting this pattern of authoritarian conduct.

President Trump’s unconstitutional and un-American attacks on the free press are hardly new. His second term, however, has seen these unseemly rhetorical attacks accompanied by an unprecedented weaponization of the FCC’s regulatory authority against television broadcasters to gain leverage in personal legal matters, extract financial settlement payments, and intimidate their news divisions to silence dissenting views and critical coverage.

The President has repeatedly called for ABC, NBC, and CBS to lose their broadcast licenses in response to what he deems unfair coverage. While the President is entitled to his opinions as a media critic, the First Amendment clearly prohibits government officials from abusing federal power to silence, censor, or intimidate news media organizations. We recognize, just as our Founders did nearly 250 years ago, that a free and open press is Democracy’s last and best defense against tyranny. Your Democratic and Republican predecessors had the courage to defend this fundamental American value, publicly rejecting calls to regulate or punish broadcasters for their perceived political views. You too affirmed this principle in 2021, stating: “A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official, not targeted by them.”

Yet the Commission appears to have fully abandoned this principle in its review and approval of Skydance Media’s recent acquisition of Paramount Global, including CBS News and Stations. As you know, President Trump – acting in his personal capacity – filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS in late October, alleging that routine editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris amounted to “Election Interference and Fraud.” Trump’s lawsuit was widely panned as “legally groundless,” “frivolous and dangerous,” and “ridiculous junk” by legal experts from across the political spectrum. Yet the Commission withheld its approval of the transaction until CBS capitulated and agreed to pay $16 million. Moreover, the Commission’s eventual approval was conditioned on CBS accepting unprecedented and unconstitutional infringements on its editorial independence, including the hiring of a “bias monitor” to police alleged unfairness toward President Trump and his allies.

With CBS now effectively coerced into self-censorship, we’re troubled by recent Commission actions appearing to aim for similar outcomes at ABC and NBC. In letters sent to the Walt Disney Company (December 21, 2024) and Comcast Corporation (July 29, 2025), you warned of potential FCC intervention in ABC’s and NBC’s relationships with affiliated broadcast stations. Neither letter identified any statutory authority for such intervention. Nor did they offer any economic rationale why corporate broadcast groups, some of which own more than 100 stations apiece and rake in billions of dollars a year, would require or warrant the FCC’s assistance in standard business negotiations.

Absent any valid statutory authority, and in light of President Trump’s repeated attacks on these networks and calls to put them out of business – and your own media appearances cheering on his attacks on “these legacy broadcast media outfits and the New York and Hollywood elites” – these letters read as thinly-veiled shakedown threats: Nice business you’ve got there. It’d be a shame if anything happened to it.

Let us be clear: The FCC has no lawful authority to influence network newsrooms’ editorial decisions. The FCC has no lawful authority to coerce networks’ parent companies to pay millions of dollars to the President (or to a non-profit “library foundation” controlled by one of the President’s sons) as a condition of doing business. These are the actions of lawless authoritarians – not of honorable public servants.

As Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, your sworn duty is to the Constitution – not to any President. We urge you to speak up, as your predecessors have done and you yourself were once willing to do, in defense of the First Amendment and the Rule of Law. Affirm unequivocally that the FCC will no longer serve as the enforcer in President Trump’s unconstitutional shakedowns of media organizations.

Your oath of office demands nothing less.

Sincerely,

Brenda V. Castillo - President & CEO

National Hispanic Media Coalition

John Yang- President and Executive Director

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Rosario Palacios - Executive Director

Common Cause Georgia

David Bowles - Co-founder

#DignidadLiteraria

Noreen Farrell - Executive Director

Equal Rights Advocates

Kathy Spillar - Executive Director

Feminist Majority Foundation

Jessica J. González - Co-CEO

Free Press

Seth Stern - Director of Advocacy

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Seia Watanabe - Vice President of Public Affairs

Japanese American Citizens League

Julián Castro - CEO

Latino Community Foundation

Fanny Grande - Chairwoman

Latino Excellence Project

Toni Kirkpatrick - Chair

Latinx in Publishing

Dr. Ray Serrano - National Director of Research and Policy

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Amy L. Hinojosa - President and CEO

MANA, A National Latina Organization

Steven Renderos - Executive Director

MediaJustice

Derrick Johnson - President and CEO

NAACP

Ebonie Riley - SVP, National Action Network Washington Bureau

National Action Network

Diana Luna - Executive Director

National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP)

Felix Sanchez - Founder & Chair

National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts

Marc H. Morial - President & CEO

National Urban League

Ja'Lia Taylor, Ph.D., MSIS - Director of Policy, Telecommunications, and Technology

NCNW

Joel M. Gonzales - President

Nosotros

Thu Nguyen - Executive Director

OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates

Christopher Lewis - President and CEO

Public Knowledge

Kiran Gill - Executive Director

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)

Maya Wiley - President and CEO

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Most Anticipated October 2025 Releases

As the weather starts to cool, we're looking forward to a great book to cuddle in with. 🍵🍂 Check out the titles we are most excited about below and make sure to add them to your TBR list!

Mothers by Brenda Lozano | Translated by Heather Cleary | ADULT FICTION

When the kidnapping of a little girl shocks the Mexican capital, the lives of two very different women become forever intertwined. Gloria Felipe lives a comfortable upper-class life with her husband and five children. Nuria Valencia comes from a working-class background and has been desperately trying to get pregnant in order to save her marriage. After traditional methods produce no results, she subjects herself to horrific fertility treatments designed and administered by men, and ultimately tries to adopt but is rejected on the basis that a woman in her early thirties is too old to adopt a baby. Failed time and again by the system and about to lose hope, she is presented with an opportunity that seems almost too good to be true.

Through the eyes of a wry unnamed narrator, we witness the battle of the Felipe family to recover their youngest member and the anguished attempts of the Valencia family to save their daughter from potential danger. With the twists and turns of a thriller, and Brenda Lozano's sharp yet poignant sense of humor, the novel asks how far mothers are willing to go in the name of love for their children, and at what cost.

And I'll Take Out Your Eyes by A M Sosa | ADULT FICTION

Cría cuervos y te sacaran los ojos: Raise crows and they'll take out your eyes.

Since the age of seven, Christian has been under the thumb of a curse. He reads its dark signs everywhere: in his bedridden mother's wilting plants; in his brother's estrangement; in his father's eager fists and glassy stare. He reads it in his nightmares, in Stockton's soundtrack of sirens and gunshot. Above all, he reads the curse in the mirror, watching himself "turn" into the crow his father always predicted he'd become.

Maddened by the city's heatwaves and his own unthinkable desires, often high and drunk, Christian rips through his neighborhood, desperate to escape not only the city but the monster of his pain. But even when he leaves, the curse follows. Can Christian ever be absolved? Or is he condemned to be consumed by the same violence as his father?

A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo | YOUNG ADULT

On the dreary Oregon coast, an all-seeing beast—known as the Watcher—lies in wait. When Shay and her girlfriend, Lauren, get into a fight over whether to go public with their clandestine relationship, they awaken the creature. Although Lauren is badly injured, the girls escape with their lives but can’t shake the feeling of the creature’s eyes tracking them. 

Meanwhile, aspiring photographer Zoe is desperate to put together a portfolio worthy of earning a scholarship to attend art college. Her photography teacher praises her skill but urges her to select more daring subjects for her submissions—a tall task when Zoe's camera acts as a barrier between herself and the rest of the world.

As rumors swirl about Lauren's injuries, Shay remains steadfast in that the Watcher is to blame, not her. She asks for Zoe’s help in snapping a photo of the local legend. Proof would help Shay clear her name and certainly be daring enough for Zoe’s scholarship. Together with their friends Jack and Parker, they set out to expose the Watcher before its ever-creeping eyes cast the secrets they’re all keeping from the town—and one another—into the light. 

Other Evolutions by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia | ADULT FICTION

Alma Alt, the sheltered youngest daughter of an interfaith, interracial Jewish-Mexican couple, rarely ventures far from her home on a wealthy tree-lined street in Ottawa, where nothing ever happens. The one time she did, striking out to visit her older sister, Marnie, in Montreal, things ended in disaster as she found out that beautiful, blonde Marnie had been lying about their family’s background, trying to pass herself off as white. The fallout from that betrayal leads to a devastating accident, one that claims Alma’s arm and someone’s life.

Alma is now stuck in a holding pattern, unable to move past her grief. But Alma's life is turned upside down by an encounter just steps from home with an impossible person: the boy she watched die.

Other Evolutions is a literary debut with a dark twist that reveals the uncanny in the mundane, seeing us through the worst parts of our lives toward the weird and wonderful things right in our own backyard.

Empress of the Splendid Season by Oscar Hijuelos | ADULT FICTION

Lydia España--once a wealthy, spoiled daughter of Cuba--works at a sewing factory in New York. Adjusting to her sharp change of circumstances, missing the days when her prosperous father provided her with every luxury, she ruminates on the incident that drove her away from her homeland in the late 1940s--until she falls in love with Raul, a kindhearted, working-class waiter who sees Lydia as the "Queen of the Congo Line" she used to be: the empress of "the most beautiful and splendid season, which is love."

Despite their age difference, a loving marriage follows, as well as two children. Lydia revels in her newfound happiness, but when Raul's health declines, she finds her fortunes reversed yet again. Now working as a cleaning lady, Lydia can't help but contrast her experiences with those of her clients, whose secret lives and day-to-day realities are so starkly different from her own--but over time, the role may prove to be just what she needs to secure a better life for her children.

Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women Who Endured Repatriation by Assistant Professor of History Marla A Ramírez | NONFICTION

From 1921 to 1944, approximately one million ethnic Mexicans living in the United States were removed across the border to Mexico. What officials called "repatriation" was in fact banishment: 60 percent of those expelled were US citizens, mainly working-class women and children whose husbands and fathers were Mexican immigrants. Drawing on oral histories, transnational archival sources, and private collections, Marla A. Ramírez illuminates the lasting effects of coerced mass removal on three generations of ethnic Mexicans.

Ramírez argues that banishment served interests on both sides of the border. In the United States, the government accused ethnic Mexicans of dependence on social services in order to justify removal, thereby scapegoating them for post-World War I and Depression-era economic woes. In Mexico, meanwhile, officials welcomed returnees for their potential to bolster the labor force. In the process, all Mexicans in the United States--citizens and undocumented immigrants alike--were cast as financially burdensome and culturally foreign. Shedding particular light on the experiences of banished women, Ramírez depicts the courage and resilience of their efforts to reclaim US citizenship and return home. Nevertheless, banishment often interrupted their ability to pass on US citizenship to their children, robbed their families of generational wealth, and drastically slowed upward mobility. Today, their descendants continue to confront and resist the impact of these injustices--and are breaking the silence to ensure that this history is not forgotten.

Taco by Ignacio M Sánchez Prado | Edited by Ian Bogost and Christopher Schaberg | NONFICTION

Taco is a deep dive into the most iconic Mexican food from the perspective of a Mexico City native. In a narrative that moves from Mexico to the United States and back, Sánchez Prado discusses the definition of the taco, the question of the tortilla and the taco shell, and the existence of the taco as a modern social touchstone that has been shaped by history and geography.

Challenging the idea of centrality and authenticity, Sánchez Prado shows instead that the taco is a contemporary, transcultural food that has always been subject to transformation.

This Is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz | ADULT FICTION

When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico - beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.

Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming. For lovers of the Neapolitan novels, This is the Only Kingdom is an immersive and moving portrait of a family - and a community - torn apart by generational grief, and a powerful love letter to mothers, daughters, and the barrios that make them.

Carne de Dios by Homero Aridjis | Translated by Chloe Garcia Roberts | ADULT FICTION

In the remote mountains of Oaxaca, the Beatniks have arrived.

María Sabina, the renowned Mazatec healer, spends her days in the small town of Huautla de Jiménez selling produce at the market and foraging under the new moon for the sacred mushrooms that grow near her home--her Holy Children, Carne de Dios, or Flesh of God. But her life changes forever when an amateur mycologist from New York, with a cameraman in tow, visits her to experience for himself the mushroom ceremony, or velada, he knows only from whispers in anthropological records. When he publishes an unauthorized article about his experience in LIFE Magazine 1957, the stage is set for an explosive encounter between the burgeoning international counterculture and the woman who became an unwilling icon of the psychedelic revolution.

Carne de Dios is a masterful and often humorous blend of history, myth, and poetic imagination, captured in a translation that mirrors the hallucinatory beauty of Aridjis's original Spanish. Aridjis's intimate portrayal of María Sabina, informed by his personal connection to her, serves as both a tribute to her enduring legacy and a critical reflection on the wave of global interest in mushroom culture still gaining momentum today.

Where the North Ends by Hugo Moreno | ADULT FICTION

Aspiring writer Uriel Romero finds himself mysteriously trapped in the body of Diego, a seventeenth-century Franciscan novice accused of heresy. Unsure whether he’s in a dream, a coma, or another dimension, Uriel must navigate Diego’s fate: to be sent to New Mexico on a perilous mission to convert the Apaches or else risk the flames of the Spanish Inquisition.

As he struggles to understand his new existence, Uriel encounters a cast of colorful characters: a prophetic friar who claims to be his father, an Apache shaman guiding him through the astral plane, a talking mule yearning for the Promised Land, and Alma—his eternal love whose tragic death still haunts him.

With echoes of “The Night Face Up” by Julio Cortázar and Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda, this time-travel saga weaves history, mysticism, and existential mystery into a gripping tale of fate, love, and redemption.

Will Uriel uncover the truth before time runs out, or is he doomed to be lost between worlds forever?

October 2025 Latinx Releases

We’re excited to share the new releases for October 2025! Below you’ll poetry that explores poverty and ecological justice, an array of bilingual titles for kids, and even an exciting appearance from a previous LxP fellow.

ON SALE OCTOBER 7

ON SALE OCTOBER 13

ON SALE OCTOBER 21

ON SALE OCTOBER 31

Author Q&A: Samuel Teer On Creating ‘Brownstone’ with Mar Julia

Brownstone by Samuel Teer and Mar Julia begins with both dread and anticipation. Almudena’s mom is looking forward to her once-in-a-lifetime trip to be in an international touring dance production. 

But Almudena? Well, the 14-year-old is on her way to spend the entire summer with her father. Thoughts swirl in her head: “Am I okay with having to stay with a father that I’ve never met and know nothing about for three goddamn months? NO!”

When mother and daughter arrive at their destination, Almudena comes face-to-face with Xavier, who is from Guatemala. Almost immediately there is a language barrier between them. Almudena’s mom is white and, though she speaks some Spanish, they don’t speak the language at home.

Before them is a broken-down brownstone, and Xavier brings Almudena inside. He expects her to live in and help fix it up during their time together. So begins a summer of transformation for Almudena, who struggles with her identity all while forging new friendships in this new environment.

Winner of the 2025 Michael L. Printz Award, Brownstone (from Versify) is a moving and often hilarious YA coming-of-age graphic novel that touches on themes of identity, culture, and finding one’s place in a community. Readers will feel as though they’re also living in the worn-down brownstone with Almudena as she navigates new territory, and as she and her father figure out how to become family.

Teer spoke with Latinx in Publishing about the inspiration behind Brownstone, identity, language, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo: Congratulations on Brownstone, which I understand is the result of years of work by yourself and Mar Julia. What inspired this story?

Samuel Teer (ST): I was working at a hardware store part-time, trying to do comics. I was stocking shelves and happened to be walking by a 14 or 15-year-old Latina girl translating between one of the Caucasian employees and her dad. A thought occurred to me: I wonder what their story is. There was something about that scene that made me want to know more. I kept percolating in the back of my head for the rest of the day. And I was like, Oh, I wonder if their story is similar to my story, and Mar’s story. I started using that visual as a springboard to go, Oh, well you can sort of graft the never really fitting in with your family and sort of being literally in between two worlds. You can sort of graft that onto this imagery. And then Brownstone started to take shape. The more Mar and I talked, we discovered that we had a lot of similarities growing up, despite growing up in vastly different environments.

AC: Your main character, Almudena, is being sent to spend the summer with her Guatemalan father, who she’s never met. Her mom, who is white, has a unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform with a touring dance group. Now Almudena is thrust into a very different, Latino neighborhood, and tasked with helping her father with the renovation of an old brownstone. There’s so much she’s being introduced to, but I’m curious about how you came up with the brownstone renovation plot point?

ST: My wife and I had bought a house right before the active writing of Brownstone, so we were fixing the house that we paid for. As we’re doing that, the way my brain tends to work is that everything is like, Oh, maybe this is something to file away later that can work in a comic. So as that’s getting done, you see the day-to-day progression. That was an interesting visual metaphor for them building a relationship.

The other portion is, I went to Guatemala for the first time when I was 15. I met my maternal great-grandfather. He lived in a building very similar to the brownstone. So it was about linking those two things from my past with my present at the time, and being like, This building represents something. This tall rectangle represents something for me. I thought having that be a centerpiece made sense to build the story around.

“Which is, truthfully, what comics is: You are looking at what other people have done, and you’re building upon it. Which is also a metaphor for the book. It’s about building.”

AC: This story is very much about a father and daughter trying to wade through language barriers, as well as cultural barriers because Almudena is just now learning about her Guatemalan heritage. Can you walk us through what it was like to piece together the dynamics of their relationship?

ST: With Xavier and Almudena specifically, I knew there needed to be a push-pull. They had a lot of similarities and a lot of fears. Writing Almudena was very easy for me. I am a little bit stunted still, and so writing kind of a bratty 14, 15-year-old comes pretty naturally to me. That was very much a part of the fabric of my soul; like, I don’t get this. This doesn’t make sense. Why is the world not conforming to what I need it to be? Why don’t I fit in? 

Looking at it from Xavier’s perspective, he’s also very alienated. Even though he’s in a community, he’s still an outsider. There’s a chapter late in the book where Xavier writes a letter to Almudena that is him telling her where he’s been her entire life, and why he wasn’t around. For me, at the time of writing that, we were foster parents. We had a 17-year-old Latina in our house, and that was just me writing to her and telling her, I am so scared about this. You want to run away, and you don’t. Knowing those two bits, that Almudena was going to be kind of a brat, but eventually even out a little bit towards the end, and that Xavier was going to be an intensely lonely person surrounded by people, I knew that they would be able to connect. Those two are obviously core to the story, but the story is very much about their relationship.

AC: There are many themes in your book – most prominent among them is what it’s like to grow up mixed-race which I imagine you took from your lived experience as well. I thought it was interesting how, at times, Almudena hears conversations by her father or other characters as “really fast Spanish-sounding stuff.” It made me chuckle at times. How did you arrive at describing Spanish in this way?

ST: Mar is better at speaking Spanish now than I am. Mar and I both understand Spanish when our families talk to us, but we have a hard time speaking it. You’re processing it. You’re like, I know this is Spanish. I can hear the tone change, so I’m definitely in trouble at this moment. That kind of thing. We wanted to try to get that experience, that sort of texture, into the story. I honestly lifted the very basic idea of the little brackets saying, ‘It’s this language’ from Matt Fraction when he did his run on Marvel’s Hawkeye (series). I think it’s in the first couple of issues, but there’s some Tracksuit Mafia guys. It’s sort of like, ‘Vaguely European cursing’ or something like that in Fraction’s book. And I was like, Oh, that’s a wonderful way of taking that and making it fit this book. Which is, truthfully, what comics is: You are looking at what other people have done, and you’re building upon it. Which is also a metaphor for the book. It’s about building.

AC: As a teen whose parents are not together, Almudena has always had this image in her head of a family, and what it should look like. I thought you and Mar Julia displayed this really effectively, because it’s something that I am sure many kids whose parents aren’t together. What message were you hoping to send by having Almudena have this vision?

ST: I wanted to track her actual character growth. That she’s gonna have these flights of fancy, and have a very vivid imagination of: This is what my dad could look like, or this is what it could look like if my parents get back together, and it’ll be perfect. And for her to be the one, to be like, Hey, maybe this doesn’t have to be perfect. Maybe this doesn’t have to be the way that it is in my head. It can just be what it is. She has her quinceañera, but to me that’s the moment that she starts to become an adult. It’s that moment of, Oh, maybe this doesn’t have to be this very child-like dream.

AC: What was it like working with Mar? I understand you approached Mar early in the process of making Brownstone, so you worked on this together from the ground up.

ST: Yeah, that’s pretty much what we did. I wanted to work with Mar on something. Mar wanted to work with me on something. I came home that day from the hardware store and pitched this idea via email. And Mar was like, “Yeah, that sounds great.” And I was like, “OK, cool. Oh crap, I have to figure out how to write this.” But Mar’s art was just something I was in love with from moment one, well before Brownstone. So far I’ve only worked with people who are my dream artists to work with, and that is such a lovely thing. 

You have some imagery in your head as you’re writing. The best thing about Mar’s artwork is that Mar always brings something that’s so much better than what’s in my head, and it immediately supplants what’s in my head. We had sketches and character designs as I was writing. And, you know, in my head, I’m envisioning realer people. And the second I see that, I’m like, OK, these are the characters now... And I just so adore everything that Mar brought to the table. 

AC: What do you hope readers take away from Brownstone?

ST: This is a complicated question. Honestly, I hope they take away whatever they take away from the book. I have had people approach me and say, Oh, I got this from the book. And I’m like, Oh, I didn’t expect that. So that’s always very nice. I would definitely encourage them to just get out of it whatever you get out of it. If there’s maybe a thematic intent that I hoped for, it’s that you don’t have to fit into a binary about what it means to what is or isn’t Latinx enough.

---

Mar Julia lives on an unceded Piscataway land that makes up Baltimore, Maryland. Previous comics credits include the ‘Lumberjanes’ and ‘Adventure Time' series. Brownstone is their debut full-length graphic novel. 

Samuel Teer is the author of Brownstone and Veda: Assembly Required. Raised outside of St. Louis, Missouri, he lives in Aurora, Colorado.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family.

Author Q&A: ‘Menudo Sunday’ by María Dolores Águila and Illustrated by Erika Meza

Menudo Sunday begins with joyful anticipation. An older man, smiling, sits outside a warm yellow house. A woman and a boy pull out plastic chairs from a stack to arrange them side by side. And a grinning young girl sprints to one of her abuelos, who waits for her by the iron front gate.

“One cozy casita,” author María Dolores Águila writes. “Two grinning abuelitos.”

Out now from Dial Books for Young Readers, Menudo Sunday is a counting picture book that follows a family over one lively Sunday. The girl and her mamá, abuelos, tías and primos always gather on this day to enjoy a pot of menudo, a traditional Mexican soup made with beef tripe and hominy. The book counts from 1-15 in Spanish and English, until Abuelito Esteban’s special bowl of menudo breaks. Can the family work together and still make this a special Sunday?

Menudo Sunday is Águila’s second picture book and largely inspired by her own Sunday gatherings at the home of her paternal grandmother in San Diego. Illustrations by Erika Meza bring tremendous color and humor into the family’s already chaotic Sunday, adding to the book’s excitement. Menudo Sunday is a vibrant and fun read, and includes a Spanish glossary, author’s note, and even tips for hosting your very own Menudo Sunday.

Águila spoke with Latinx in Publishing recently about the inspiration behind her picture book. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on Menudo Sunday. In your author’s note, you write about how some of your most cherished memories are from the menudo Sundays you’d spend at your paternal grandparents’ home in San Diego, California. I’d love to start by asking, what is a Menudo Sunday?

María Dolores Águila (MDÁ): My paternal grandma lived in San Diego, and had this huge yard. It felt like a jungle when we were kids. She had eight kids, so I have a lot of aunts and uncles, and they all have kids. We would all descend on her house on Sundays and she would make this humongous pot of menudo. 

She had this tiny two-bedroom house. And because there were so many of us, we would take turns eating in shifts. First all the adults would go, then all the older cousins, and then the younger cousins or whoever showed up late or whatever. For me, it was this unstructured spending time together… just this beautiful moment of being with family.

AC: Your book is a Spanglish counting book. When you began to write it, did you envision it in Spanglish?

MDÁ: Yes, from the beginning. I always tell people, I live my life in Spanglish. That’s how everything filters through me. I know people say it’s not proper, but some things are better said in Spanish. Some things are better said in English. In National City, where I live in San Diego, I spend half of my day speaking Spanish. So for me, it’s very natural to write in Spanglish because that’s how I share my lived experience with the world.

AC: Menudo Sunday is chock full of details, from two grinning abuelitos to seis – six little bowls filled with salsa, cilantro, lime, oregano, onion and jalapeño. Walk us through how you chose which details are a must for Menudo Sunday?

MDÁ: It took quite a few drafts to figure out how to decide what numbers to put for what. For the very first draft I was really literal. I thought it had to be something that you could physically count. Rosie (Ahmed) was my editor at the time and pushed me to rethink what counting can be. And so now we have things like, “ten dedos stealing tasty treats” and “eleven risitas when the grownups aren’t watching.” And Erika did such an amazing job even illustrating how to count those. When I was trying to create a story from the numbers, I thought, OK, how can I move through these numbers and still tell a story, and still have something to count? It was an enjoyable experience. It was like putting together a puzzle.

“And Menudo Sunday is a book of resilience. I think resilience comes from allowing yourself to experience joy and happiness. Even though things are tough, things are hard, life is stressful, still allowing yourself to experience beautiful, ordinary moments of life, that’s what it’s made out of. ”

AC: About halfway through the book, the special bowl of menudo crashes and menudo spills everywhere. At that moment it felt like the family’s whole Menudo Sunday was in jeopardy. How did you come up with that big obstacle?

MDÁ: When I wrote the very, very first draft of Menudo Sunday, I had it from 1 to 20. When the bowl broke, I had the character in “16 minutos of time-out.” That’s how I originally had it. And Rosie pushed me. She was like, I don’t know about putting her in time-out. Then I thought about it. I don’t even do time-out for my own kids. We figure out how to fix things together. I kept thinking about it and realized I have a really big chance right now. 

You know what chancla culture is, right? It’s always about the Latina mom coming after you with a chancla if you do something wrong. I get it, it’s funny, but that’s still a punitive thing. For our generation, where we’re raising kids now and trying to break these generational curses, I thought the best thing we could do is figure out how to solve this together, and not blame anyone. Yeah, they shouldn’t have been doing all that. But you know what? Kids are kids. And it doesn’t have to be the end of everything. We can come together and we can fix it, and we will be just as good as we were before. I’m trying to push back against chancla culture, and I’m trying to show some social, emotional learning – that fixing something is better than being punished.

AC: What do you think Erika Meza’s illustrations added to the story?

MDA: I don't even know if I could list everything that her illustrations added to the story. I really love the body diversity of the characters; there’s skinny ones, there’s mas gorditas. I love that, because I’m a gordita myself and I often don’t see myself in a book. The focus is not on that. They’re just there in the story. 

I also love all the little Easter eggs that she put throughout the story. And then after the crash is my favorite illustration. I know it’s really silly, but when it reads “fifteen fragmentos scattered across the ground,” one of the aunts is looking at the dog, really pissed off. It makes me laugh so much every time I see it. I love books like this, where there’s so much to look at. I think it adds re-readability to the story, because every time I read it I notice something new.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from Menudo Sunday?

MDÁ: Barrio Rising was very much a book of resistance. And Menudo Sunday is a book of resilience. I think resilience comes from allowing yourself to experience joy and happiness. Even though things are tough, things are hard, life is stressful, still allowing yourself to experience beautiful, ordinary moments of life, that’s what it’s made out of. I just want readers to see themselves in this book, to connect with Chicano culture, to see themselves and to look for the joy and the family food traditions in their own lives.

---

María Dolores Águila is a Chicana poet and writer from San Diego, California. Deeply inspired by Chicane history and art, she seeks to write empowering and inclusive stories about everything she learns. She is also the author of the historical fiction picture book Barrio Rising: The Protest That Built Chicano Park.

Erika Meza was born in Mexico, fell in love with animation on the border of California, and developed a taste for eclairs in Paris before moving to the UK to teach at Nottingham Trent University. She is the illustrator of numerous children’s books including My Two Border Towns by David Bowles and Salsa Lullaby by Jen Arena.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family.

2025 Latinx in Publishing Recommended Books for Latine Heritage Month

Happy Latine Heritage Month!🎉

From September 15–30, we're honoring Latinx storytellers with these powerful recs from Latinx in Publishing. These titles are all 20% off with code LHM25.

Browse our picks below and then head over to LxP’s Bookshop to pick up your next read. 📚✨

Head to the LxP Bookshop now! Remember to use code LHM25 by September 30th to receive 20% off these select titles. Happy reading!