This year, on the first day of Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month, we wanted to pull together a list of some of the exciting new ficition that's come out from Hispanic and Latine authors over the past year (although, of course, this list can only scratch the surface of all the amazing contributions to literature from such a vibrant community). On this list, you'll find gothic goodness and speculative thrillers, multi-generational epics and dystopic stories. These books look at the foster care system, intimacy, memory, the “American Dream,” religious and political corruption, gentrification, trauma, forgiveness, revenge, storytelling, and so much more. Once you make if through these books, if you're hungry for more (of course you are!), be sure to check out our Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month resource page for bookseller recommendations and original author content.
by Isabel Cañas
The author of The Hacienda returns with a spooky and thrilling supernatural western that pits vampires against vaqueros. Vampires of El Norte is dripping in gothic goodness and a deep sense of the history of 1840s Mexico (thanks in no small part to Isabel Cañas’s deep well of knowledge and research of the area). Come for the vampires, stay for the love story. — Kelsey F.
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Absolutely gobsmacked by Moreno-Garcia's ability to crack open the status quo when it comes to the paranormal. If you loved Brand New Cherry Flavor, you're going to adore Silver Nitrate. This is one of those books that will be cool forever. I'm obsessed. — Stacy Wayne D.
by Mark Oshiro
Mark Oshiro writes it, I read it. Into the Light is a twisty, tense, dual-timeline speculative thriller that tackles the foster care system, religious corruption, white-saviorism, and children being left on their own to process traumatic events. Not YA for the faint of heart – with plenty of psychological horror and trauma to unpack – but, despite its chilling subject matter, it feels propulsive, necessary, and somehow hopeful at the same time (how do authors manage to do this? I am in awe). — Sarah R.
Don’t miss Mark Oshiro at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing on September 20! Joined in conversation with Aiden Thomas!
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Family Lore follows the women of the Marte family, spanning past and present through the voices from multiple generations. Kiese Laymon, author of Long Division and Heavy, says “Only Elizabeth Acevedo could make an epic feel so intimate, so perfectly crafted and tightly drawn...This is how stories should be made." — Claire A.
by Esmeralda Santiago
Esmeralda Santiago’s novel alternates between Puerto Rico in 1975 and the Bronx in 2017. Luz Peña Fuentes’s world was shattered after her parents were killed in a car accident in 1975 — an accident that leaves Luz with many disabilities and no memory of her previous life in Puerto Rico. As an adult living in the Bronx, she yearns to understand more about her past, which prompts her friends to plan a visit to Puerto Rico. A visit that, of course, doesn’t go completely as planned. Las Madres is an engaging, mesmerizing book about the power of memory and friendship. — Lucinda G.
by Xochitl Gonzalez
Set against an NYC backdrop during the months of one of Puerto Rico’s most devastating hurricanes is a story examining political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the “American Dream” — all while asking what it means. — Hana H.
by Angie Cruz
It’s 2009 and New York City is in the midst of the Great Recession. Cara Romero, a 56-year-old Dominican woman, has been unemployed for two years after losing her factory job where she worked most of her life in the US. She joins the Senior Workforce Program and sits for twelve sessions with a city employee to find a new job. With humor, heart, and candid honesty, Cara opens up about her life and these sessions become a form of therapy. — Antonia S.
by John Manuel Arias
Where There Was Fire is an incredibly intricate and finely wrought debut from John Manuel Arias — a multi-generational story about a Costa Rican family whose lives ripple with the long-term effects of multiple tragedies (including the titular fire). This is a story that explores familial relationships and strains, the long shockwaves caused by a traumatic past, forgiveness and secrets, revenge and loss. I can’t recommend this one enough! — Kelsey F.
by V. Castro
A perfect weaving of Mexican folklore and generational trauma stretched across different places in time, all neatly bound with V. Castro's signature attention to detail and expert care. This is a book only she could have written, full stop. You have never seen La Llorona in this light and you won't soon forget her. ¡Viva La Llorona, viva V. Castro! — Stacy Wayne D.
by Manuel Muñoz
I usually struggle to finish short story collections, but the expertly woven connections between some of these narratives immediately drew me in and held my attention till the last page. Each story is so convincingly portrayed that you could easily forget it's a work of fiction. — Rudy K.
by Cleyvis Natera
A savvy melodrama, warm-hearted and as astute as a lawyer’s brief: an upwardly mobile young Manhattan lawyer and her parents react to the gentrification of their Dominican neighborhood in Natera’s debut novel. — Lesley A.
by Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya
A truly affecting, coming-of-age story about a young Columbian American man whose life tumbles through pitfalls (he’s suspended from school, he crashes a car, his uncle passes away) and surprising blessings (school officials that feel bad, an insurance payout) that eventually lead him to living in Tucson with his older sister. Beautifully written and filled with moving insights into how parallel the good and bad of our world can be — this is an impressive, exciting debut. — Kelsey F.
by Agustina Bazterrica (tr. Sarah Moses)
This collection of nineteen short stories is exactly what you would expect from the author of
Tender is the Flesh, and I mean that in the best way. Once again, Bazterrica drags our darkest fears to light with tales of dystopia, alienation, and violence, but in her vivid and clever style also manages to make you laugh. This collection is witty, disturbing, and an absolute must read. In many ways, reading these stories gave me that same gut punch of dread that I felt as a child when I first picked up
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and I loved every minute of it. It doesn’t matter if you love slashers or prefer your scares in small doses — there is something in here for everyone. —
Aster H.
by Carolina de Robertis
The President and the Frog is a truly audacious new book from Carolina de Robertis. As a former president of a Latin American country relates his history to a journalist, he remembers his past as a revolutionary and the time he spent behind bars, relating stories to a speaking frog (!!). The stories in this book are layered and filled with depth, as the book explores themes of storytelling, abuses of power, the will to survive, and so much more. — Kelsey F.
by Alejandro Varela
The People Who Report More Stress has so many things going for it before you even crack the spine — it’s a short story follow up to Alejandro Varela’s stunning debut (The Town of Babylon, the best use of a high school reunion in all of literature), it’s beloved by great authors (Alexander Chee: "The mix of curiosity, humor and care in these stories reminds me of the parts of my life no one else writing currently describes."), and it’s a top ten collection title (in a crowded field!). These linked stories explore gentrification and racism and sex and pop music and humanity, and (crucially!) the state of knowing things are bad and living on anyway. One of many things I marveled at: Varela writes about small moments in a big way, and can treat remarkable moments a bit more matter-of-fact. This gives his collection a surprising sense of propulsion and poetic realness, that will entirely captivate you. — Michelle C.
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Find more reading recommendations, original author content, and bookseller displays on our
Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month resource page.