Born high in the Andes Mountains in Quito, Ecuador at an altitude of 9,000 feet above sea level, author Cecilia Velástegui has found success as an author of adult and children's books due to her extensive travel, her chameleon nature and "the serendipity of the Spanish tongue."
Born in NYC and raised amid the Germanic culture of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, author Daniel Cubias was considered very exotic. He was the only Latino friend to countless kids, and his cousins were the only other Latinos he knew. That static upbringing helped to shape Cubias' perspective as a writer, sharpen his attentiveness to the progress of U.S. Latinos and urge him to examine his cultural identity.
Colombian-born author Adriana Páramo left her native country 23 years ago. Geographical exploration and global wandering shaped the way she sees the world and the way she describes it, and this has been made abundantly clear by her books, "My Mother's Funeral" and "Looking for Esperanza."
Angela Cervantes, author of "Gaby, Lost and Found," has employed her love of writing to pen the influence of friendship, animals, immigration and hope in the lives of children, by use of diverse and strong characters.
Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, author, academic, unapologetic border-crosser and ex-DJ, was "made in Mexico but born in the U.S," or so he tells his students. His varied identities --Chicano, border-crosser and voracious reader-- has helped to shape his life as a writer.
"Eat Mexico" a colorful and attractive cookbook authored by journalist, homecook and entrepreneur Lesley Téllez, tells the story of the antojitos, the street foods of Mexico City.
Mexican-American social entrepreneur and the award-winning author of "Seven for the Revolution" Rudy Ruiz depicts yearning and suffering on the page with purpose and intrigue, converting backstory and conversations into thunderous, nuanced stories. And employs his social interests to create a more conscious, original story.
"Emma Gomez: A Courageous Woman Displays True Grit" tells a harrowing story, one that focuses on the importance of smaller things, as well as burdens that people carry.
The quaint Central Valley-located California town Dinuba, with its unchanging landmarks and the conversational closeness of its residents, is a source of creative stimuli for professor and author Manuel Muñoz.
Colombia is a part of professional poet Alixa Garcia's upbringing. It's a part of her family, her roots and her ancestry. But, she was also intermittently raised in North America --so asking her where she's from can be a bit tricky. Her rearing in both war-torn Colombia and the socially imbalanced U.S. offered her two drastic realities, opening her eyes to a global perspective.
Cuban stories that captured a young girl's childhood just after the turn-of-the-century, the subsequent whims of emigration and harrowing tales of motherhood fed author Chantel Acevedo. Acevedo's grandmother, who orated those stories, inspired the author to be a storyteller, and she taught her the language of a narrative.
Cristina Henríquez, author of the critically acclaimed novel "The Book of Unknown Americans," was born in the United States, but spent a great deal of her childhood in her father's home nation, Panama. Henríquez talks with Latin Post in this week's edition of "Palabras" to discuss her new book, Panama and how her travels made her a best-selling author.
Helena Maria Viramontes, critically acclaimed author and professor, reinforces the belief that fiction can rise from experience and personal understanding, amass amid the memories of generations of Chicano families raised in East Los Angeles, and grow around the fervor of familial love that only words can attempt to capture.
"Perla," "The Invisible Mountain" and "The Gods of Tango" are fictional fragments of who Robertis is as a writer. Her attraction to exploring the histories of silenced, forgotten or marginalized voices is rooted in a need to offer underserved communities a place in literature. This is why she's chosen to dedicate her life to creating stories that have been kept private, but will resonate with the public.
"George I. Sánchez: The Long Fight for Mexican American Integration" is stationed on book shelves across the nation, and the published nonfiction work stands as a utensil for those who ache to learn more about a complex and unsung hero who dedicated himself to reform, intellect, integration, and racial and political equality.
In this edition of Latin Post's "Palabras" series, the astounding Carlos Harrison discusses civil rights, the importance of legacy and the immigrant experience in the U.S.
