Hispanic Heritage Month Picks
Important titles by contemporary Hispanic authors
September 15 marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, a month-long celebration of Hispanic and Latino American heritage and culture. Below, we’ve shared important stories that show the nuances and challenges of the Hispanic-American experience, from José Olivarez’s multi-faceted exploration of the spaces between Mexico and America, to Erika L. Sanchez’s poignant story of a Mexican-American girl’s struggle with loss and identity.
Featured on this list is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’s Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, which shows how the modern immigrant experience can often be marked by intense emotional distress, especially given our current political climate. Jose will be speaking about his experience as an immigrant with award-winning journalists Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela, hosts of the political podcast In The Thick, as a part of Strand and Pen America’s PEN Out Loud Series. In this live recording of the podcast, the audience will hear and share immigrant stories of pain, healing, and courage. See Jose on September 20th.
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez
Lost Empress by Sergio De La Pava
Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas: Book 1) by Zoraida Cordova
Cenzontle by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
MyOTHER TONGUE by Rosa Alcala
The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories by Daniel A. Olivas
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
Beast Meridian by Vanessa Angelica Villarreal
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez
Love War Stories by Ivelisse Rodriguez
