Sunday, October 19, 2025

LAS COMADRES CELEBRATES ITS MEMBERS ACCOMPLISHMENTS & BOOK NEWS --- OCTOBER




Comadres Lead the Way! 

 Join us in celebrating our Comadres Accomplishments and Book News. 
(This list is for promotional purposes only and not intended as an endorsement of any kind.)


ACCOMPLISHMENTS 


Amina Ali (New York, NY) – was accepted into the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction) program at the City College of New York (CCNY), for Fall 2025. 

Andrea Arroyo (New York, NY) – is thrilled to share that her exhibition featuring 80 artworks from “Imaginations: Art as Solidarity” is on view at St Just Le Martel, France. Also, her exhibition in New York “Viva la Vida”, inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead, opens on October 25 at the Sugar Hill Museum in Manhattan. 

Carmen L. Bonilla (Mayaguez, Puerto Rico) – is currently developing an online course to help working adults further develop their interpersonal communication skills in the workplace. It will be part of a larger course to help with workforce and career readiness. Carmen provides job seekers all over the US with coaching, helping them with resumes, interview preparation, and everything related to job search. Two of her job seekers landed their next roles recently. 

Lynette Correa-Velez (Chicago, IL) – is A.I. Founder/CEO of the Pagame Project w/RitaAI tech start-up, and created the inaugural "Latinas in A.I. & Business Panel" & co-presented at the annual 2025 Chicago Latina Expo on October 4. Lynette was awarded the "2025 Empowering Latinas Award" by United Latinas National during the 2025 HHM United Latinas Virtual Conference in Oct 2025. She was 1/3 awardees in the U.S. which had over 400 nominations nationally. She was also quoted in Forbes Magazine for #LatinaEqualPayDay on 10/8/2025! Check out the article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lyannealfaro/2025/10/08/latinas-are-powering-the-freelance-boom-but-a-pay-gap-persists/ 

Julieta Corpus (Donna, TX) – was named First Poet Laureate of Donna, Texas. 

Dori Contreras (San Antonio, TX) – was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas (Sept 3) and the Hidalgo County Bar Association (May 22). 

Eris Garriga (Brooklyn, NY) – will be participating in a "Congreso Aguadillano de Historia" on October 23rd and 24th at the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Campus (CORA). Her topic is Cultura Culinaria Aguadillana (Culinary Culture of Aguadilla). This is as part of the 250th year anniversary of the foundation of Aguadilla. 

Karina Martinez (Austin, TX) – participated as a designer in the Austin Woman Magazine and the ACC Fashion Incubator Fashion Show at Macy's on September 18th. 

Dora Elias McAllsister (Oak Park, Chicago, IL) – On September 9, Dora finished a 100K (62 miles) walk on the Camino de Santiago (the way of St. James), an ancient pilgrimage route across Spain. Bravo!

Raquel V. Reyes (Miami, FL) – On October 1st, 2025, Raquel became the first Latina to be president of Sisters in Crime. Sisters in Crime was founded in 1986 to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers. 

Dr. Donna San Miguel (San Marcos, CA) – was appointed President of Mana de North County San Diego. 

 
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COMADRE AUTHORS 


Maritere Bellas (Manhattan Beach, CA) – has a new book out, TIO RICKY DOESN’T SPEAK ENGLISH / TIO RICKY NO HABLA INGLES, from Lil’ Libros. The book is a bilingual children’s book/ middle grade. 

Flor Chaidez (Los Angeles, CA) – Flor’s book, THE TELEMENTAL HEALTH WORKBOOK, was published by Kendall Hunt Publishing, and available in English and Spanish. The book offers telemental health therapists a collection of engaging and innovative strategies for working with children and adolescents. 

Nylda Dieppa (Orlando, FL) – Her poetic chapbook, CRUMBS: POEMS ON THE JOURNEY FROM RATIONED TO REPLETE, has qualified as a finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Award competition.


Congratulations to all !


Thursday, October 2, 2025

LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS ANNOUNCES ITS BOOKS OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER

 



The Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club is pleased to announce its Books of the Month for October:

 

  

 

LOS MUERTOS: DAY OF THE DEAD FICTION edited by Adela Pineda Franco (Trinity University Press) – The first anthology of fiction devoted to the Day of the Dead celebratory holiday written by Mexican and Mexican American writers.  Twenty plus stories related to memorializing the dead.  (NOTE: Publisher offering 20% discount. Use the code Comadres20 for paperback only.  Here’s the link:  https://tupress.org/9781595343130/los-muertos/)








VANISHING DAUGHTERS by Cynthia Pelayo (Thomas & Mercer) – This Bram Stoker Award-winning author has written a chilling suspense thriller about a haunted woman stalked by a serial killer and the nightmares of real life.   (NOTE:  Kindle Unlimited has this book for $0 now.)

 






  

SAVE THE DATE!  Mark your calendars for Monday, October 27, 8pm ET for the monthly Live Author Podcast when we will get a chance to talk to the authors and ask them about their books.   Register today for the podcast and you may win a FREE BOOKhttps://latinolit.com/join-teleconference/

  

Shop for your books here:  https://bookshop.org/shop/lascomadresbookclub

 

Subscribe to the Las Comadres YouTube Channel for more author interviews.  Here's the link to last month's Live Author Podcast: https://youtu.be/jg4yB6FefVM?si=s_xr01YyWGxqVy1L

 

    

Happy Reading and Always Read Latino Lit!

 

 

LAS COMADRES CELEBRATES ITS MEMBERS ACCOMPLISHMENTS & BOOK NEWS FOR MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

 Comadres Lead the Way!

 

 

Join us in celebrating our Comadres Accomplishments and Book News.  

This list is for promotional purposes only and not intended as an endorsement of any kind.

 

 



 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 

     

Julia Abrantes (Delray Beach, FL) – Celebrated 20 years being cancer free from malignant melanoma. Amen.

 

Olga Campos Benz (Austin, TX) – Honored to receive the Community Leadership Award presented during the inaugural Latina Legacy Awards hosted by the Foundation of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Fellow Latina Legacy Award recipients include the Honorable State Rep. Lulu Flores, Yolanda Sanchez, Dr. Susan Warner Sanchez, Julie Ann Zuniga, and Raquel Valdez Sanchez. The luncheon and presentation occurred on June 12.

 

Bobbie Garza-Hernandez (San Marcos, TX) -- Courtney Enriquez received the Award of Excellence - Emerging Artist from the Emma S. Barrientos - Mexican American Cultural Center (in July).  She was also featured in a solo exhibit of her signature Loteria artwork at La Pena Gallery, on Congress Avenue, Austin, TX throughout the month of July.

 

Ligiah Villalobos Rojas (Studio City, CA) -- Her short play “woman Ascending” will be part of the Luminous Streets Project the last two weeks in September.  

 

 

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COMADRE AUTHORS

 

 

Nyx Coronado (Phoenix, AZ) --- Her debut romance novel, THE DHAMPIR’S ACOLYTE, is out now.  It’s a romance between a solitary dhampir and a merchant’s daughter. Can their romance withstand his ruthless family or will it cost her life?

 

Gina Isabel Rodriguez (Wilbraham, MA) -- I published my first piece of journalism on a lost documentary about the 1973 Chile coup: https://current.org/2025/08/why-wnet-backed-away-from-groundbreaking-coverage-of-the-chile-coup/

 

 

 

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Congratulations to all !