Palabra Power: 10 Latina Authors You Need to Know

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Every few years when you least expect it a new crop of talented Latina authors who’ve dedicated tumultuous years honing their craft and writing in solitude, finally give birth to debut works that begin to slowly get noticed by U.S. readers and thus catch on fire.

Who are some of these essential Latina writers breaking into the national literary landscape at the moment? The following ten writers have demanded that the world take notice of their fierceness on the page. In the descriptions below you’ll see how the zeitgeist in Latina literature is not only centered on identity anymore but in the world of young adult fiction, science fiction, dystopian futures and fantasy settings. There are also unabashed queer stories, erotica scenes, and even one author writing for Marvel comics about a Latina superhero named none other than America.

3Lilliam Rivera

Lilliam Rivera Dealing in Dreams
Photo Credit @lilliamr

Rivera is a rising star in the world of YA fiction who won the Pushcart Prize in 2016. The hip and charismatic Nuyorican journalist turned award winning author made a name for herself in the book community with her bold and emotional story about class, race, and finding one’s self in The Education of Margot Sanchez. The book was inspired by elements of Rivera’s own quirky eighties upbringing in the Bronx and explored heavy topics such as dysfunctional families, addiction, and peer pressure. This past March she released Dealing in Dreams (Simon & Schuster, 2019), coined a “YA novel about girl gangs in a crumbling future.” Now based in Los Angeles, the professed lover of science fiction books told Electric Literature that in her latest book she wanted to explore violence, privilege and the complicated nature of power, and what it means when the future of a community rests in the hands of history’s most fearless radicals: young people.” There’s no doubt Rivera’s creative muse is on fire: she recently announced that her third YA novel Pheus & Eury, a retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus & Eurydice, set in the Bronx, will be published in fall 2020.