Latino literature

Among the newer voices are those in the genre of Latino coming of age novels. There are many stories and poems about young female protagonists struggling in school or within their bicultural families; the noteworthy books in this category include I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez (2017) and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (2018)[12] For young readers in middle school, The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel tells a coming of age story, one of a young girl's longing to return to her father's homeland of Guatemala.[13] Daniel Alarcón’s (At Night we walk in Circles) offer up political satire, such as the plot of an aspiring young actor living in a war-torn, unnamed South American, who lands a role in a farcical play “The Idiot President” and takes the role too seriously.[14] In stark contrast are the autobiographically inspired adult fiction titles such as Lina Meruane's Seeing Red, about the fear of going blind and having to depend on a lover. This is How You Loose Her by Junot Diaz (2012)[15] a young student is inappropriately involved in a sexual relationship with an older women.

As the 21st century saw an increase of Central Americans in the U.S. population, so too was there a notable rise in the number of literary contributions of authors from that area. Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature, the first Latino literature anthology to offer scholarly and pedagogical resources, was co-edited by John S. Christie and the Salvadoran-American, Jose B. Gonzalez[16]. As part of what would become the third-largest Latino population in the U.S., Salvadoran-American authors made their mark. Poets such asWilliam Archila, Claudia Castro Luna[17], Jose B. Gonzalez, Leticia Hernandez Linares[18], and Javier Zamora, published poetry collections that reflected on the Salvadoran Civil War and their own migrations. Leticia Hernandez also co-edited, along with Ruben Martinez, Hector Tobar, The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States[19], the first major collection of Central American writing in the U.S. Other notable authors who have family roots in Central America include the Nicaraguan American Francisco Aragon; Guatemalan Americans, Francisco Goldman, the Panamanian American Author, Christina Henriquez[20]; Costa Rican American poet, Ruben Quesada; and the Honduran American poet, Roy G. Guzman.

Growing genres are Latino Speculative fiction, Sci Fi, and fantasy fiction, and with their swift development comes a growth in Latino comic books and graphic novels, as documented in Latinx Rising, the first anthology of science fiction and fantasy by Latinos living in the United States.[21] Edited by Matthew Goodwin and Frederick Luis Aldama, the anthology features a range of speculative and fantasy fiction (i.e, with ghosts, aliens, superheroes, robots, talking sardines) written by Junot Diaz, Giannina Braschi, Kathleen Alcalá, Carmen Maria Machado, Ana Castillo, Edmundo Paz Soldan, and emerging Latino short story tellers such as Ernest Hogan and Sabrina Vourvoulias.[22][23]

Latinx speculative, fantasy, and weird fiction bring humor to fantastical, futuristic, comedic, and stark political subjects, offering readers strange new concepts such as: Los cosmos azteca, shape shifting robots, pre-Colombian holobooks, talking sardines, and patron saints that are cybernetically wired.[21] Cultural theorist Christopher Gonzalez argues that Latinx fantasy writing provides necessary excursions into the realm of impossible in order for writers and readers to cope with 21st-century realities.[24] Latino authors write about interconnected social justice, familial, and psychological issues (i.e., colonialism, migration, racism, mass incarceration, and misogyny). Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties, blends gothic romance, fantasy, and horror when dealing with misogyny.[25] Giannina Braschi conjures, in United States of Banana, a bizarre cast of characters including things, creatures, and people (i.e., Cockroach, Exterminator, Reptiles, Lady Liberty, Fidel Castro, Hu Jintao, Barack Obama, Hamlet, Zarathustra, Pablo Neruda, and Rubén Darío).[26] In dealing with issues of Puerto Rican sovereignty and debt, Braschi's work projects about what might happen if the United States sold Puerto Rico to China as debt relief.[21][6] Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz, author of Drown and the short fantasy story "Monstro", has noted that colonialism's roots in Caribbean culture involve fantasy, sci fi, zombies, monsters, and aliens.[21][27]