LatinoLit

Latino Rebels contributor Jonathan Marcantoni filed the following post about the YouNiversity Project he co-founded with Chris Campanioni: Since the inception of the YouNiversity Project in June 2014, authors Chris Campanioni and Jonathan Marcantoni have built a program that has attracted attention from people in 33 countries in six continents, has connected aspiring writers to […]

Originally published by the author on his page. As the New York City coordinator for Puerto Rico’s Festival de la Palabra, I have the unique fortune of working with authors and poets on both sides of the bilingual Puerto Rican divide. Someone once asked me why I expend so much energy in doing so and […]

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. —excerpt from […]

Author’s note: This creative essay was a collaboration between Rafael Acevedo-Cruz, Jorge Román Ortiz, Omaris Zamora Reyes and William García Medina. The Spanish version of this piece is here. Part I A play in two acts in a small public auditorium The plot: Nelson A. Denis recently published a book about a history of Puerto […]

Nota del autor: Este ensayo creativo fue una colaboración con Rafael Acevedo-Cruz, Jorge Román Ortíz, Omaris Zamora Reyes y yo, William García Medina. La versión en inglés se encuentra aquí. Parte I Drama en dos actos en algún pequeño auditorio público La trama: Nelson A. Denis publicó recientemente un libro sobre una historia de Puerto Rico titulado […]

“Latino writer” is a label whose purpose is to make you feel like you are a part of something big, important and ultimately has nothing to do with you as an individual. “Latino writer” does not denote quality or innovation, it is not a movement nor does it embody a single worldview, but what it […]

Editor’ Note: A few of us here at Latino Rebels have read Jonathan Marcantoni’s book, so we decided to write a review. Jonathan is also one of our newest contributors, so we welcome him to the group, and while you’re at it, go get his book and read it! In his 1989 essay “Stalking the […]

This is a story about a book and a new friendship. When I first heard that Nelson A. Denis was publishing War Against All Puerto Ricans, and that it would release yesterday (already topping the Amazon charts in Caribbean History and Caribbean & Latin American Politics categories), to say I was intrigued would be selling my emotions short. I […]

Editor’s Note: You can read Part I here and Part II here. JM: What are your thoughts on the immigration issue in the United States and how it pertains to Latinos? ND: The immigration debate is important, and it must be continued until everyone —Latinos and other groups— receive the same consideration that was extended […]

Editor’s Note: You can read Part I of the intreview with Nelson Denis here. Part III is here. JM: Do you feel the close ties between the Puerto Rican independence movement and Castro has hurt the cause? ND: Anything that enabled J. Edgar Hoover and Gov. Muñoz Marín to characterize the Nationalist movement as part of […]

Recently, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Nelson Denis, author of War Against All Puerto Ricans. I have long had an interest in the subject of Puerto Rico’s 1950 Revolution and whether you are familiar with this largely suppressed moment in our history or not, Denis offers sharp and exciting insights on mid-century […]

St. Patrick’s Day is very special in Mexico because it is a time when Mexicans remember the San Patricios, or the Battalion of St. Patrick.

I’d just returned to New York from a trip to Puerto Rico in 2011, when my mother recounted a family tale to me that her paternal grandfather had told her many times when she was little, one that even I had heard throughout the years. (Photo by Bella Vida Letty.) I’d invented characters and worlds […]

Remember earlier this year when Nate Cohn of The New York Times let the world know that a significant number of U.S. Latinos were becoming more “white” by misrepresenting a study that had yet to be finalized? This week that study was finally published. Here it is: America's Churning Races: Race and Ethnic Response Changes […]

You came to my land To look for oil, Took most Of the profit To New York, Houston, Detroit, You exploited The weak all along, Knowing, You were wrong. Guess what? It made us Stronger. No longer will we Sit back While you stick Your instruments In our earth. Slick and slick, Stone and stone, […]

I was 4 years old in a comfy neighborhood 4 year old dreams of running running through fields of tall grass the top of my head and the soles of my feet are all you can see I am 4 years old casually walking into neighbors’ houses asking for cookies and juice to their bemusement […]

Bronx Writers Center director and Rebelde Charlie Vázquez sat with Daniel José Older at a Brooklyn restaurant to discuss —among other things— the spirit world in storytelling, the importance of building community and how the publishing industry needs to restructure its acquisitions and marketing strategies if it wishes to engage more Latino readers.   CV: […]

We don’t need to be on a cup. That’s not the point. The point is actually a box. A school district in Arizona can box up and physically remove from classrooms seven books in a Mexican-American studies program, and then place the rest on a watch list of literature not to be taught. The point is the […]

This just in from Ysleta Independent School District, which serves the El Paso, Texas area: YISD School Board Meeting – El Paso, TX- March 5, 2014 – At 6pm tonight, the Ysleta Independent School District is set to be the first Texas school district to endorse a Mexican American Studies program. The implementation of Culturally and […]

Many were wondering when author Junot Díaz would respond to a barrage of critiques, including those from a Dominican author and a government official. This morning, Díaz’s Facebook page posted the following comments:

Quesadillas is the second novel by Mexican writer Juan Pablo Villalobos, author of the brilliantly comic Down the Rabbit Hole (nominated for the 2011 Guardian first book award). Where his earlier book gave a first hand account of life inside a Mexican cartel boss’ palatial home, told from the perspective of the kingpin’s son, his latest efforts […]