Books To Read for Latine & Hispanic Heritage Month

In this brilliant new collection of poems, National Book Award winner Martín Espada offers narratives of the forgotten and the unforgettable. The poems in Jailbreak of Sparrows reveal the ways in which the ordinary becomes monumental: Family portraits, politically charged reports, and tributes to the unsung.

An inspiring manifesto from philanthropist and advocate Gisele Barreto Fetterman that explores her surprising source of power and strength — vulnerability — and how we can all harness it to effect meaningful change. Gisele redefines strength and leadership for our modern times, presenting tools for surviving and thriving in a world designed to wreck the tender-hearted. Because by embracing those emotions publicly — laughter, vulnerability, and, yes, even tears — we not only honor ourselves but open a path toward changing the world.

You are loved and worthy simply because you exist. You need not do anything to earn it — you were simply born worthy. Pause and breathe that in. If the dominant culture has you people-pleasing, playing it small, and repressing the wild woman within, it’s time to stop hiding your light and start to shine. In I Am Worthy, licensed therapist Christine Gutierrez blends modern psychology with ancient wisdom to help you untangle the web of unworthiness. Join the Worthy Revolution with this guide to loving and embodying your truest self.

An enchanting, highly personal tour of some of the most iconic cemeteries of the world — part travelogue, part memoir, part “excursions through death,” by the author of Our Share of Night. Weaving personal stories with reportage, interviews, myths, hauntology, and more, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave is memoir channeled through Enriquez’s passion for cemeteries, revealing as much about her own life and unique sensibility as the graveyards and tombstones she tours. Unlike anything else, Enriquez’s first work of nonfiction is as original and memorable as the stories and novels for which she’s become so beloved and admired.

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day unites three women — and their secrets — in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton.

In this “stunning” (People), “riveting” (Entertainment Weekly) historical novel, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father — and herself. A tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name Is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart.

The Grand Paloma Resort is a lush paradise in the Dominican Republic where the guests enjoy incredible luxury, and the staff is always eager to please — that is, until they are pushed to the brink. Set over the course of seven days, The Grand Paloma Resort offers an unforgettable story of class, family, and community, building to an intense climax in which the true costs of luxury are laid bare, redeemed only by true acts of love.

The beloved author of Lighter offers a blueprint for deepening your compassion, kindness, and gratitude so you can truly grow in harmony with another person and build stronger connections in all your relationships. Yung Pueblo’s insights on embracing change, building a foundation of honesty, and learning to listen selflessly will resonate regardless of where you are in your healing journey. And his unique combination of poetry, personal experience, and thoughtful advice will help you grow and strengthen all of your relationships.

The House on Mango Street is one of the most cherished novels of the last fifty years. Readers from all walks of life have fallen for the voice of Esperanza Cordero, growing up in Chicago and inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of vignettes —sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous — Cisneros’s masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery and one of the greatest neighborhood novels of all time. 

There’s a fine line between bending the truth and telling bold-faced lies, and Javier Perez is willing to cross it. Victim is a fearless satire about a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the veneer of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the odd currency of identity. A satirical sendup of tear-jerking trauma plots with a tender portrait of friendship at its core, Victim asks what real diversity looks like and how far one man is willing to go to make his story hit the right notes.

Rich people know a secret. In this book, former Wall Street investor Codie Sanchez pulls back the curtain. Her secret? She acquires overlooked “Main Street” businesses. We’re talking about the unsexy but reliably profitable industries — like plumbing, construction, cleaning, electrical — that white collar workers have overlooked. Main Street Millionaire will reshape the way you think about your wealth and ownership forever. However, it’s not for slackers. It’s for those who want meaning and fulfillment while building their community. Codie’s no-BS, out-of-the-box wisdom is the antidote to a complacent life of making other people rich. In summary: Your money, and meaning, is on Main Street.

A novel by a brilliant new voice, Hombrecito is a queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrant’s complex relationships with his mother and his motherland. Hombrecito — “little man” — is a moving portrait of a young person between cultures, between different ideas of himself. From an extraordinary new talent, this is a story told with startling beauty and intensity, a story for anyone searching for home, searching for a way to love.

On the eve of their college graduation, best friends Javier Báez and Marisol Campos swore never to date someone the other doesn’t approve of. Now, almost a decade later, Javi has a problem. Mari, the woman he’s secretly pined for since sophomore year, is engaged — and Javi didn’t even get the chance to vet the Pedro Pascal knockoff she plans to marry. With his life and career finally on track, Javi’s ready to confess his feelings. Except Mari’s changed the script and moved on without him. Javi has just six weeks to convince Mari this marriage is a flop. If that means he needs to ruffle some feathers to help her avert disaster, well, he’s up for the challenge. After all, isn’t that what best friends are for?

The story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom — and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment — from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes. The White Hot takes the form of a letter from mother to daughter about a moment of abandonment that would stretch from ten days to ten years — an explanation, but not an apology. Hudes narrates her story — spiritual and sexy, fierce and funny — with delicate lyricism and tough love turning her stumbling pursuit of herself into an unforgettable short epic of self-discovery.

From the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban, a follow-up novel that tracks four generations of the del Pino family against the tumultuous backdrops of Cuba, the U.S., Germany, and Russia in the new millennium.

The extraordinary rediscovered novel from the Nobel Prize-winning author of Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude — a moving tale of female desire and abandon.

A young poet tells the unforgettable story of his harrowing migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine in this moving, page-turning memoir hailed as “the mythic journey of our era” (Sandra Cisneros). Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.

An award-winning journalist’s deeply reported exploration of how race, identity, and political trauma have influenced the rise in far-right sentiment among Latinos, and how this group can shape American politics. This important book is also available to read in Spanish.

In concise prose, Puerto Rican activist Luisa Capetillo advocates a workers’ revolution, forcefully demanding an end to the exploitation and subordination of workers and women. Her essays cover topics such as sexuality, mental and physical health, hygiene, spirituality, and nutrition. At once a sharp critique and a celebration of the gathering fervor of world politics, A Nation of Women embraces the humanistic thinking of the early twentieth century and envisions a world in which economic and social structures can be broken down, allowing both the worker and the woman to be free.

Although only six years old, Antonio Marez is perceptive beyond his years. He was brought into the world with the help of Ultima, a curandera, or folk healer, in touch with nature and the spirit world. Ultima’s loving tutelage will help him navigate questions of life and death, good and evil, and reveal to him the vastness of the heritage that shapes him, in this pioneering work of literature.

A year in the life of the unforgettable Catalina Ituralde, a wickedly wry and heartbreakingly vulnerable student at an elite college, forced to navigate an opaque past, an uncertain future, tragedies on two continents, and the tantalizing possibilities of love and freedom.

Discover Dan-el Padilla Peralta’s journey from a New York City homeless shelter to the top of his Princeton class. Undocumented is essential reading for the debate on immigration, but it is also an unforgettable tale of a passionate young scholar coming of age in two very different worlds.

A work of luminous and riveting prose, Elliott’s Invisible Child reads like a page-turning novel. It is an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family, and the cost of inequality — told through the crucible of one remarkable girl.

Seventeen-year-old Marisol has always dreamed of being American. She never pictured fleeing her home in El Salvador under threat of death and stealing across the US border as “an illegal”, but after her brother is murdered and her younger sister Gabi’s life is also placed in equal jeopardy, she has no choice. With truly no options remaining, Marisol jumps at an unusual opportunity to stay in the United States. She’s asked to become a grief keeper, taking the grief of another into her own body to save a life. It’s a risky, experimental study, but if it means Marisol can keep her sister safe, she will risk anything. She just never imagined one of the risks would be falling in love, a love that may even be powerful enough to finally help her face her own crushing grief. Listen to the audiobook here.

From the co-creator of Deadpool and author of Suburban Dicks comes a diabolically funny murder mystery that features two unlikely sleuths investigating a murder that reveals the dark underbelly of suburban marriage.

One more journey to the universe of Roberto Bolaño, an essential voice of contemporary Latin American literature. These three fiercely original tales bear the signatures of Bolaño’s extraordinary body of work, echoing the strange characters and uncanny scenes of his triumphs, while deepening our reverence for his gifts.

A “dazzling, cinematic, intimate, lyrical” (Roxane Gay) epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West, from the author of the National Book Award finalist Sabrina & Corina. 

An immigrant mother’s long-held secrets upend her daughter’s understanding of her family, her identity, and her place in the world in this powerful and dramatic memoir.

In this mixed-media collection of short stories, personal essays, poetry, and comics, this celebrated group of authors shares the borders they have crossed, the struggles they have pushed through, and the two cultures they continue to navigate as Mexican Americans. Living Beyond Borders is at once an eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and hopeful love letter from the Mexican American community to today’s young readers.

A rousing, beautifully observed, and tender-hearted debut poetry collection about identity, culture, home, and belonging — for fans of Jasmine Mans and Fatimah Asghar.

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is as deeply moving as it is hilarious. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest, Crying in the Bathroom is Sánchez at her best — a book that will make you feel that post-confessional high that comes from talking for hours with your best friend.

A coming-of-age comedy. A telenovela-worthy drama. A moving family saga. All in a phone call you won’t want to hang up on.

“Dios aprieta, pero no ahorca” (“God squeezes, but He doesn’t strangle”) – the epigraph of Machete – sets the stage for a powerful poet who summons a variety of ways to endure life when there’s an invisible hand at your throat. Tomás Morín hails from the coastal plains of Texas, and explores a world where identity and place shift like that ever-changing shore.