LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS NATIONAL LATINO BOOK CLUB RELEASES 10TH ANNUAL SUMMER READING LIST

  

The Las Comadres & Friends Book Club’s 10th Annual Summer Reading List includes something for everyone in a variety of genres.  The List includes a 40-year-old classical novel; a Pulitzer Prize winner; a celebrity memoir; a dazzling anthology with intergenerational voices of Latine women; mysteries; historical fiction; young adult books; adorable children’s book, a mouth-watering cookbook and a gardening craft book.  

1.       A DELICATE MARRIAGE by Margarita Barresi (Atmosphere Press) – fiction

2.       A HAUNTING IN HIALEAH GARDENS by Raul Palma (Dutton) – suspense

3.       AN AMERICAN IMMIGRANT by Johanna Rojas Vann (WaterBrook) – fiction

4.       ARRIBADA by Estela González (Cynren Press) – fiction, LGBTQ+

5.       DAUGHTERS OF LATIN AMERICA: AN INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY OF 

          WRITING BY LATINE WOMEN edited by Sandra Guzmán (Amistad) – anthology

6.       DEATH’S COUNTRY by R.M. Romero (Peachtree Teen) – young adult, LGBTQ+

7.       FAMILY LORE by Elizabeth Acevedo (Ecco) – fiction

8.       I’LL GIVE YOU A REASON by Annell López (The Feminist Press/CUNY) -- fiction

9.       IN MY EYES, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL by David Unger (Mosaic Press) – fiction

10.     LEGENDARIOS: WRATH OF THE RAIN GOD by Karla Arenas Valenti (Aladdin) –

          children’s books

11.     LILIANA’S INVINCIBLE SUMMER: A SISTER’S SEARCH FOR JUSTICE by

          Cristina Rivera Garza (Hogarth) – Pulitzer Prize winner, non-fiction

12.     RELENTLESS: MY STORY OF THE LATINO SPIRIT THAT IS TRANSFORMING

          AMERICA by Luis A. Miranda Jr. (Hachette Books) – biography

13.     SYLVIA’S SECOND ACT by Hillary Yablon (Pamela Dorman Books) – fiction

14.    THE DOMINICAN KITCHEN by Vanessa Mota (Rock Point) -- cookbook

15.    THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET by Sandra Cisneros (Vintage) – classic, fiction

16.    THE PRINCE AND THE COYOTE by David Bowles (Levine Querido) – young adult

17.    THE ROARING DAYS OF ZORA LILY by Noelle Salazar (MIRA) – historical fiction

18.    THESE HOLLOWED BONES: POEMS by Amelia Díaz Ettinger (Sea Crow Press) --               poetry

19.    ¡VERDURA! LIVING A GARDEN LIFE by Perla Sofía Curbelo-Santiago 

         (Cool Springs Press) – craft, gardening

20.   WILD DREAMERS by Margarita Engle (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) –

        young adult, fiction

 

Join the book club here:  https://latinolit.com/join-book-club/

  #ReadLatinoLit

Some photos of our Summer Reading List

LAS COMADRES GARDEN CLUB TURNS 20 !

by Rose Costas Dietrich

 

Las Comadres Garden Club celebrates its 20^th Anniversary this year.  

The Club started after I had attended several Comadrazos and found many other Comadres who also liked to garden. I had gotten some Flamboyant seeds from my father and put several of them in medium pots, and when they all sprouted, I posted a message through the Comadres network to give the little trees away and I would also mail seeds to several Comadres in the area.

 Our first meeting was in mid-August of 2004 at Velia Sanchez home in South Austin. She was a great first host since she is a master gardener. We had about ten people who attended.

 Since then, we have met every quarter on a Saturday morning at different Comadres homes. We bring food and plants, cuttings and/or seeds which we exchange during our meeting. We also do an informal tour of the hostess’ garden during the meeting.

 Sometimes we have presentations and sometimes we do a garden project. The core group is made up of about two dozen Comadres.

 I am so thankful for the Las Comadres Garden Club especially right after my father died two weeks after our first meeting. We had to take a break during Covid and had no meetings for four years, but we started again this year in time to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. I will be hosting the next meeting in September, and we will be doing a special garden art project. After all, Gardening is our Passion!

  

Rose Costas Dietrich has been a Comadre and part of the Las Comadres Garden Club for 20 years.

 

In the garden, We cultivate not

just plants, but also the joy of Life.

 

This article appeared in the 2024 Summer Comadres Connect! Newsletter.  

Visit our website at www.lascomadres.com.

MEET COMADRE KAREN D. GONZALES

 By Jacqueline Quiñones

 

 

When I interviewed Karen Gonzales for this edition the best way I can describe her is a woman of service who is passionate about helping other Latino writers.

 

A Denver native though her family comes from New Mexico, Karen has been a Comadre for about 13 years, and enjoys networking and staying in touch with many Comadres nationwide. 

 

Karen is also the coordinator of the Denver Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club, and one of six founders CALMA (Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors) that started in August 2020 during the COVID pandemic. The mission of the group is to celebrate and promote Latino authors in Colorado. They meet monthly on Zoom or in person to network, have roundtable discussions and help authors to start or finish their writings.

 

CALMA presently has 70 Latino Authors they are promoting on their website, including more than one fellow Comadre. There are also many other author events CALMA is planning at a high school, colleges and the Denver Woman’s Press Club that include workshops, writers competitions and poetry festivals in various Colorado cities. If you are interested in learning more about these authors go to Calmaco.org. 

 

Karen is also a short story writer herself with a fiction children's chapter book titled, The Mystery of La Llorona and Mister Lloron, which took her about five years to finish with ongoing editing and rewriting drafts. One of the CALMA members’ sister, Dolores Guerrero was the illustrator for the book. Recently she wrote a screenplay adapted from her book and she is submitting it to competitions. She also wrote a short story titled “The Ranch” in CALMA’s debut Anthology, Ramas y Raices: The Best of CALMA releasing June 29, 2024.

 

Karen paused when I asked who her favorite author was because there are so many that she likes, especially the ones that are highlighted on CALMA’s website. She did mention she reads a lot of books by New Mexico Author Carmen Baca. Another Author and book she mentioned, which I have also read, was Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. 

 

This summer, Karen plans to enjoy several outdoor cultural festivals in Denver and church bazaars. She is also very fond of gardening, and has grown squash, calabazas, lettuce, cilantro, green beans, peas, tomatoes, radishes and beets. Plus, lots of reading and writing, of course.  #ReadLatinoLit 

This article appeared in the 2024 Summer Comadres Connect! Newsletter.  

Visit our website at www.lascomadres.com.

MEET COMADRE TERRY SAUCEDO

By Esperanza Beltrán

 

Terry & Nora

  Terry Saucedo, Inland Empire’s longtime facilitator, was kind enough to meet with me a few weeks ago to talk about their group, famously known for their sixteen-year streak of not missing a single meeting. They did miss one meeting, but that was only because of a mishap in communication, so let’s not count it on this occasion. 

 Comadre Terry is a single mom, an avid salsa dancer, and a busy working woman, who loves her Comadres group. When we met two years ago, Terry was remodeling the bathroom of her 102-year-old home. She has since painted it, remodeled the kitchen, and she is now revamping her front yard. Despite her busy schedule, she maintains the Inland Comadres Facebook group and ensures everyone is kept up to date. 

 The Inland Empire Comadres gather on the first Friday of the month. They have kept their meeting process the same over the years, trying their best to hold to Nora’s vision for the organization: women gathering to connect. They each get the same amount of time to share before moving on to the next person, they eat afterward and have time to extend their conversations. 

 Over the years, Terry says, their meetings became a need, something that infuses their busy lives with a fresh and uplifting feeling that can only come from gathering with other women.  This July will mark their Sweet Sixteen which calls for a celebration that is currently being planned. Just like their Quinceañera last year, this year’s celebration is sure to be a success.

 It must be noted that among these Comadres there are about five spouses and significant others who have also been attending meetings for the past 15 years.  They are Honorary Comadres; living proof of the special connection Comadres have with each other and with each other’s  families. Here’s to another sixteen years for the Inland Empire Comadres!

 “To me,” Terry, says, “from the very beginning, [Las Comadres] just meant friendship and sisterhood.”  

Las Comadres inland Empire Network (CA)
Last year's 15th Anniversary

This article appeared in the 2024 Summer Comadres Connect! Newsletter.  

Visit our website at www.lascomadres.com.

LAS COMADRES CELEBRATES ITS MEMBERS' JUNE ACCOMPLISHMENTS & NEW BOOKS BY COMADRE AUTHORS

 

There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. -- Jody Hedlund

Greetings, Comadres.

Congratulations to the following Comadres on their Accomplishments, and to Comadre Authors on their new books.

 

 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Nohra Bernal (New Haven, CT) -- won the Skipping Stones Honor Award for Children's Book "The Child and the Tree" ("Alma Semilla" in Spanish).

 

Carmen Keithly (Austin, TX) -- received her Master’s in Spanish this past May from The University of Texas Permian Basin, with a 4.0 GPA.  

 

Laura Medrano Carrillo (Framingham, MA) – was appointed to Vice-Chair of the Alcohol Licensing Board.

 

Liliana Morales Galván (Corpus Christi, TX) -- came with her family from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas Mexico, in search of the American Dream.  Liliana’s dream to become a real estate agent has come true. She passed her Texas real estate example and is ready to help people find their next home, or investment opportunities.  She is ready to service the public.

 

Gina Gwen Palacios (Brownsville, TX) – was awarded tenure and a promotion to Associate Professor at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.  Promotion effective September 1, 2024.

 

Mireya Perez Bustillo (Brooklyn, NY) – Her poem, “Going to the Mammos,” was published in Brownstone Poets 2024 Anthology.

 

Donna San Miguel (Temecula, CA) -- defended and passed her proposal defense for her dissertation on May 31! Her study, "Latinas Leading with Latinidad: Incorporating the Latina Identity into Leadership", aims to foreground the voices of Latinas in higher education, and apply decolonized methods of inquiry.  

 

Dr. Maria del Carmen Unda (Austin, TX) – has a new job! She’s a postdoctoral scholar for the College of Education at the University of Texas Austin, doing research on principal equity pipelines utilizing critical policy analysis and organization theory.

 

 COMADRE AUTHORS

Congratulations to our COMADRE AUTHORS for their latest publications.

 

MAY

 

MODERN MARIANISMO: ITS RELEVANCE AND THE CONNECTION TO IMPOSTOR SYNDROME AND PERFECTIONISM by Dr. Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez (Bushkill, PA) --   Dr. Bonilla-Rodriguez dissects the notion that women are sacrificial and nurturing figures, systematically conditioned to prioritize the needs of others over their own. Published by Fig Factor Media Publishing. Website:  http://drdamarybonillarodriguez.com/

  

 

JUNE

 

GATHERING MOONDUST Edited by Libby Belle aka Patricia Goitia Lebo (Driftwood, TX) – Eleven authors, 27 stories about a “dot in the universe.”  Anthology published by Pure Luck Press.  Website: https://www.libbybelle.com/

 

 

 

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NOTE:  these listings are for congratulatory purposes only. We are not endorsing any products, services, or candidates for public office.  

 

 

 

Congratulations to all our Comadres!