“Iván Monalisa Ojeda brings to life a breathtaking world of camaraderie, beautiful messiness, pain, and resilience in Las Biuty Queens. He/she offers us captivating snapshots of Latinx trans sex workers living, working, and loving in New York City, telling a story close to my heart: that of keeping one another alive, fed, bailed out, and in deliciously deviant company amidst the harshness of criminalization. This book is like the money a friend slips in your pocket when they know you can’t make rent: a fortifying whisper to carry on, and carry each other with us.”
— Tourmaline, filmmaker and activist
“This story collection marks the arrival of a singular personality with a unique and quintessential American voice. You can’t just read this book; you bathe in its grit, the resilience of its characters and, most of all, its beauty. What a stunning book.”
— Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American and author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
“Chilean American writer Ojeda dazzles and devastates in this rich collection about a group of trans Latinx immigrants as they try to make it in New York City. . . . Throughout, Ojeda proves to be a captivating presence on the page.”
— Publishers Weekly
“No one in Chile writes like Iván Monalisa Ojeda. No one has his/her ease, his/her boldness, his/her tenderness. The stories we find in Las Biuty Queens fiercely depict the life of an undocumented immigrant in New York. Here the glamor and lights coexist with misery and solitude. The American dream doesn’t exist. We’re left with the fragile voices of this book as they tell, in rabid Spanglish, the story of a nightmare as gorgeous as it is infinite.”
— Diego Zúñiga, award-winning author of Camanchaca
“Las Biuty Queens is a superb collection. Its thematic content – the lives of this vibrant community – is central to the stories, and yet the stories can be appreciated for their style and effusive characterization alone. Put the two together, and Ojeda has produced a magnificent debut that’s both politically important, as well as simply beautiful to read.”
— PopMatters Magazine
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