Let’s fly away from the DC area all the way to the border — El Paso, Texas, to be precise, where Mexican-American author Yasmín Ramírez resides. Last year, Yasmín delighted us with her debut memoir, ¡Ándale, Prieta! …

On September 3, the Library of Congress National Book Festival returned in person for its annual celebration of books and the literary community. Since I moved to Maryland, near D.C., I have been attending every year — except for those pandemic years. But even then, I enjoyed it virtually. How…

Cristi Donoso and I met virtually during VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation) this year. Although we attended different workshops (Cristi took Comedy Writing with Zahra Noorbakhsh, and I took Narrative Journalism/Memoir with Roberto Lovato), we met virtually through Zoom and Slack. We connected when we found out we…

Originally posted in April 2021: I don’t know about you, but I love all the literary events I get to go to, thanks to our virtual setting. Yes, I’m still looking forward to attending in-person events. …

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, a remarkable member of the Latinx Literary Community in the DC area. The author and I met at the University of Maryland, where she teaches creative writing and literature. Since we met, she has welcomed me to the UMD…

I met professor Laura Demaría before I studied at the University of Maryland. Professor Saúl Sosnowski introduced her to me, pointing out that her debut novel St. Louis Blues (2018) will be published soon. We talked briefly about her book, but the thought of being a scholar and a creative…

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a writer in possession of a ‘good’ Twitter account, must be in want of another writer friend, especially if both are Latinas living in the DMV area. As Jane Austen-ish as it sounds, Yohanca Delgado and I met through Twitter. We probably followed…

Let’s fly away from the DMV area, so I can introduce you to Boston-based YA author Francisco X. Stork. It’s difficult to be unbiased about his work because he is currently my writing mentor thanks to Latinx in Publishing and he has become a great friend and supporter (plus I…