13 Books by Latinx Authors Out During Latinx Heritage Month

Though we celebrate our cultura and community year-round, it’s especially important to continue to amplify and spotlight our community during Latinx Heritage Month. Celebrated every year from September 15 to October 15, this is an opportunity to celebrate our community’s contributions, history, and stories. Latinx representation in publishing remains low both among writers and literary agents and staffers. But LMH is a special reminder that our voices deserve to be heard and our stories are worth telling. From Tias and Primas by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez to Badass Bonita by Kim Guerra, there are several books being published in September and October that deserve to be celebrated for the visibility and pride that they’re bringing to the community. There are nonfiction, fiction, and children’s books so there’s sure to be a little something for everyone. Read on to learn more about 13 books by Latinx authors that are coming out ahead or during Latinx Heritage Month.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez

Release Date: September 10, 2024

Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez became known for her groundbreaking book For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts. Now she’s back with her newest book Tías and Primas, influenced by her large, close-knit family in Nicaragua where she grew up surrounded by women who showed her that women contain multitudes and all are deserving of love and understanding. These tías and primas were both blood relatives and chosen family members who fundamentally shaped her view of the world – but so did the labels that were used to talk about, define, and diminish them. From the tía loca who is shunned because of her defiance of gender roles, to the prima who is exalted for her European-like features, to the matriarch who, despite being the sacred core of her community, is forced to hide her pain, these archetypes affect us all. Exploring intergenerational trauma, colonization, sexism, and patriarchy, Mojica Rodríguez creates a love letter to family and community in an effort to heal and accept how these archetypes affect and shape us and who we are.

First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream by Jessica Hoppe

Release Date: September 10, 2024

First in the Family is a memoir by Jessica Hoppe that explores what it means to interrupt and rework cycles of harm. This is an account of what happened during the first year of quarantine when drug overdoses spiked to historical levels, which included one of Hoppe’s cousins. Turns out, there was a long and difficult history of substance use disorder in her family, including Hoppe herself, who’d been in recovery for nearly four years without telling anyone. The first in her family to share her addiction journey, she goes on an extraordinary investigation of her family history, her relationship with the American Dream, and the erasure of BIPOC from recovery institutions and narratives. Ultimately, this is a powerful portrait of legacy, survival, and hope.

Lola Reyes Is So Not Worried by Cindy L. Rodriguez 

Release Date: September 17, 2024

Lola Reyes Is So Not Worried by Cindy L. Rodriguez is a middle-grade novel follows Lola Reyes, a young Guatemalan American girl who doesn’t want to leave Guatemala. For her, it’s a country of warmth, sun, laughter, music, and family who all surround her with love. Back in her hometown of Sunnyside, it’s cold and there is schoolwork, chores, an empty place where her dad used to be, and a mother who transforms into Lola’s super-serious school principal, Dr. Reyes. Before leaving, Lola decides to bring a little bit of Guatemala—and Pop—back with her, discovering a box of his childhood worry dolls and sneaking them into her luggage despite the warnings on the box not to use them. When she tells the dolls all her worries, grief, and sadness, they don’t just come to life – they escape! In order to recapture the dolls, she enlists her neighbor and nemesis Chance Townsend as they absorb worries. Together, they race against the clock before the dolls burst and their curse spreads to all her friends and neighbors, who will absorb everything a hundredfold. But breaking the curse might mean confronting her own anxieties and grief, forcing Lola to face her emotions before it’s too late.

This Mouth Is Mine by Yásnaya Aguilar

Release Date: September 17, 2024

This Mouth Is Mine by linguist and native Mixe speaker Yásnaya Aguilar is an account of languages, colonization, and white supremacy. For one, she points out that more than 200 Indigenous languages are spoken in Mexico, while 63 are officially recognized by the Mexican government. Yet, linguistic diversity has been failed in a wider Mexican culture that celebrates being bilingual only when it means Spanish and English, not Nahuatl and Spanish, for example. She asks what is lost for everyone when these contradictions amount to official protection, contempt, and ignorance. What does it mean to have a general prize for Indigenous literature when different Indigenous languages are as different to one another as English is to Japanese? What does the “idea” of Indigeneity mean when Indigenous people live outside colonialism? Blending together personal stories, anecdotes, and research, Aguilar not only advocates for native resistance but also offers the opportunity to create a world where culture, language, and community are all equally valued.

A Sunny Place for Shady People: Stories by Mariana Enriquez  

Release Date: September 17, 2024

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez is a collection of 12 short stories that take place in Argentina and Enrique’s fascinating, frightening, and fantastical imagination. These stories center on ordinary people, particularly women, whose lives upend in the face of terror, the surreal, and the supernatural: a neighborhood that is overrun by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a hotel that is haunted by a girl who dissolved in a rooftop water tank, a riverbank full of birds that used to be women. Blending the line between good and evil, reality and supernatural, these are lyrical, heart-stopping, and deeply moving stories that will leave you shaking.

Badass Bonita: Break the Silence, Become a Revolution, Unearth Your Inner Guerrera by Kim Guerra

Release Date: September 17, 2024

Badass Bonita by poet and therapist Kim Guerra centers on a single Spanish phrase: calladita te ves más bonita, or, “you look most beautiful when you are silent.” It’s a phrase almost every Latina has heard, that has been rooted in centuries of machismo and generational trauma which Guerra writes about from her own life. This is a memoir that documents Guerra’s journey of coming into her power, learning to use her voice, listening to her inner niña, and unearthing her inner guerrera. But it also functions as a guidebook that teaches readers how to find their own guerrera and heal the stories and wounds that have long kept us silent and complacent. Exploring machismo, mental health, gender norms, and identity, readers will learn how to recognize the underlying source of wounds and trauma, transform self-silencing into revolutionary self-love, build confidence, and bring positive change to relationships, family, and community. Written in Kim’s poetic, Spanglish style, this is the ideal read for mujeres everywhere who are ready to spread their wings.

!Viva Latina!: Wisdom from Remarkable Women to Inspire and Empower by Sandra Velasquez

Release Date: September 17, 2024

!Viva Latina! by Sandra Velasquez, founder of Nopalera, is an anthology that features writings from 50 powerful Latinas to inspire you through every stage of life. In these pages, readers will be inspired to celebrate their Latina power, sisterhood, resiliency, bravery, and vibrancy. Through stories and reflections from key Latinas in history, politics, business, and entertainment, they will learn to unapologetically embrace their heritage, defy expectations, challenge the status quo, and empower themselves. There are so many incredible women who are featured in the collection including Ana Flores and Vanessa Santos Fein (the co-founders of #WeAllGrow Latina), Linda Garcia (author and CEO of In Luz We Trust), Angel Aviles (author, coach, and actor), and Leslie Valdivida (CEO of Vive Cosmetics), among many others. They will also find illustrations and portraits by Latinas that celebrate Latin culture, sidebars highlighting Latin folklore and traditions, quotes from the featured authors, and the tools to build a life and follow your own path.

Mercedes Sosa: Voice of the People by Aixa Pérez-Prado

Release Date: September 17, 2024

Mercedes Sosa is a children’s book that is written and illustrated by Aixa Pérez-Prado, telling the true and extraordinary story of Mercedes Sosa, an Argentinean folksinger and activist. Pérez-Prado writes about how Mercedes, known affectionately as La Negra, used her music and voice to speak up against poverty, inequality, and a cruel dictatorship. Despite the danger she put herself in, Mercedes refused to be silenced, instead stepping onto the stage to give voice to the lives of the voiceless and perform songs to inspire empathy and empowerment in others. Her music and messages were unforgettable, continuing to resonate with people all over the world today.

Teeny Tiendas: The Fruit Shop/La Frutería by Lourdes Heuer

Release Date: September 17, 2024

The Fruit Shop/La Frutería by Lourdes Heuer is a charming board book for children that takes place in Mr. Manzano’s fruit shop where there are so many different kinds of delicious fruit for sale: peaches, plums, grapefruits, guavas, and more. Readers will get to learn each fruit’s name in English and Spanish, and then pick their favorite for a picnic in the park. Perfect for bilingual language learning, this is a celebration of a teeny tienda and the vibrant, diverse community that frequents it.

What Happened to Belén: The Unjust Imprisonment That Sparked a Women’s Rights Movement by Ana Elena Correa

Release Date: September 24, 2024

What Happened to Belén by Argentine journalist and activist Ana Elena Correa tells the story of Belén, a 25-year-old woman from rural Argentina who went to the hospital for a stomachache in 2014 – only to very quickly find herself in prison. Turns out, she had a miscarriage at the hospital without knowing she was pregnant. But because of Argentina’s repressive abortion and reproductive laws, the doctors had to report her to the authorities, causing her to be convicted and sentenced to two years for homicide. Later, she met feminist lawyer Soledad Deza, who rallied Amnesty International, ignited an international movement, and led thousands of demonstrators to wear white masks in solidarity with the mask that Belén wore when she left prison. Correa shows this is just one example of how women’s healthcare has become that much more criminalized, placing BIPOC, rural, and low-income women at higher risk of prosecution. And yet how it ended up pressuring Argentine president Alberto Fernández to decriminalize abortion in 2021. In this gripping, moving, and personal account, Correa shows how Belén’s experience could happen to any woman but at the same time, we all have the power to raise our collective voices and demand change.

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera 

Release Date: September 24, 2024

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera (Dealing in Dreams, Never Look Back) follows Samara, a fashion-obsessed woman who finally has the job and life she’s always dreamed of, working alongside legendary designer Antonio Mota, living in a new home in sunny California, and getting closer to Brandon, an intriguing love interest who happens to be a wealthy investor in Mota’s fashion line. But soon enough, her dream life begins to transform into a nightmare as a big fashion show approaches and the pressure on her becomes overwhelming and crushing. She begins hearing voices in her room at night, seeing strange things that can’t be explained, consuming a large number of drinks. As her psyche unravels, she also discovers that her city and the House of Mota may be a mirage of secrets and lies. In order to save her own life, she must discover the truths that lurk beneath this world of glamor and beauty before the shadows claim her.

Sanctuary: Exclusion, Violence, and Indigenous Migrants in the East Bay by Cruz Medina  

Release Date: September 27, 2024

Sanctuary by Cruz Medina tells the story of the displacement of thousands of Indigenous Guatemalan Maya people who have sought and continue to seek refuge in the United States. A powerful counterstory to the narratives that surround immigration from Latin America and the Global South, Medina documents how these migrants have exchanged gang and narcotrafficker violence for the harmful rhetoric of U.S. politics, militarized immigration enforcement, false promises of empowerment through literacy, and further displacement from gentrification. Blending together decolonial critical race theory and autoethnography, he examines the role that white supremacy plays in oppressing transnational Indigenous populations who have been displaced by neocolonial projects of capitalism. He also shows how immigration policy and educational barriers exclude Indigenous migrant populations. Focusing on a population of Guatemalan migrants in Northern California, he follows the community at the “Sanctuary,” a Spanish-speaking church in the East Bay that is not only a place of worship but also a place for English language instruction and refuge. Pulling together observations, interviews, surveys, and data, he creates a powerful story of immigration, violence, language, and property and examines unknown aspects of citizenship, exclusion, and assumptions about literacy.

Not Far From Here by Nydia Armendia-Sanchez

Release Date: October 1, 2024

Not Far From Here is a picture book for children by Nydia Armendia-Sanchez, following a mother who tells her children a story that began when their father was a boy. Over the course of the story, both the children (and the book’s readers) learn their family history: how their grandparents told stories, how their grandfather, who was a blacksmith, taught their father how to make art, how their father crossed the border to follow his dreams, how he worked hard and overcame barriers, and how the children ultimately came to be. Exploring immigration, creativity, and community, this is a heartfelt bilingual story that echoes many real-life histories of second and third generations of Latine families. Featuring warm, rich illustrations, the book also includes a Spanish glossary for better reading comprehension and language learning.