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"A beautiful and inspiring anthology that celebrates the Chicana woman in all her power. Keep it on your nightstand permanently for daily inspiration." Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us |
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An essential text and instant classic!
An essential text and instant classic, Somos Xicanas gathers in lyrical solidarity the voices of a wide range of Chicana identities, all fearlessly exploring the Anzalduan nepantla and its roots in once-repressed indigeneity. Powerful poems and prose by established and emerging voices alike become, in the editors’ deft hands, brilliant threads woven together into a multi-hued rebozo that, through its beauty and utility, leave the reader wiser and more prepared for la lucha, as the words of women—in cihuatlahtolli—have always done for those willing to listen. --David Bowles Award-winning author of They Call Her Fregona & The Prince & the Coyote |
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A brilliant gathering of poetic voices from all corners of our Xicana world! In Somos Xicanas, we find established elders, Castillo, Villanueva, Cervantes, Cisneros, alongside new voices from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to the Midwest, to California. This inspiring collection is expertly curated into three sections—‘Somos Seeds,’ ‘Somos Stems & Branches,’ and ‘Somos Fruits & Flowers’—each offering variety in structure by intermingling prose pieces with poetry, allowing the voices to move between spoken word, freestyle, formal lyrical poetry, memoir and personal essays full of affirmations of what it is to be Xicana. The linguistic performance in Spanish, English, Spanglish, and even Nahuatl found in the contributions offers readers a journey across our Chicanidades. Read this collection to glean the extraordinary experiences of Xicanas by a fine-tuned choir of poetic voices!
--Norma E. Cantú
Murchison Distinguished Professor in Humanities, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas |
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This is one SPIRITUALLY MOVING language bouquet of nopal thorns, marigolds and cuetlaxochitls (poinsettias). What an accomplished array of multigenerational women and geographically diverse short story writers, essayists and poets all profoundly in touch with their ancestral and contemporary herstories; told not just in English, Spanish, but also in Nauhatl and Caló.
Without a doubt this Somos Xicanas collection has to be the best anthology so far to be published in the 21st century! Its power resides in actual lives de las mujeres Xicanas. You’ll savor the affirmations, reminisces and unconquerable love that permeates these pages. --Carlos Cumpián,
Board Member of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Author of Human Cicada (Prickly Pear Publishing) |
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Bridging generations of escritoras, this alchemy of soul, sisterhood and sangre is another solid addition to the Xicana literary canon. With prose and poetry by icons and up-and-coming chingonas, this anthology is a transcendent gift for present and future readers. --Estella González Author of the acclaimed short story collection Chola Salvation (Arte Público Press, 2021) and the novel Huizache Women (Arte Público Press, 2023). |
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This impressive collection of contemporary Chicana writers presents an artistically and philosophically mature aspect of American literature. This anthology is arranged as if it were a plant whose seeds lay in a wasteland but, against great odds, sprout and grow into a tree. It proclaims the journey of the human spirit is not just to survive but to thrive, to assert itself, “To Be.”
Chicanas historically were not only pushed to the margins of invisibility in U.S. society but oppressed by the patriarchy of Hispanic traditional culture. The artists herein first recover the seeds—the origins--of their repressed identity in the dark layers of the imagination. From there, the works advance into the growth of consciousness, and finally individual and collective self-assertion. These eloquent poems, fiction, and non-fiction are a testimonial to Chicana identity and the triumph of the human spirit. I highly recommend them to scholars and the intellectually curious. --Rosa Martha Villarreal,
author of Doctor Magdalena, Chronicles of Air and Dreams, and The Stillness of Love and Exile, |
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MORE COMING SOON
If you'd like to review an advanced reader's copy
of Somos Xicanas, contact Luz Schweig: [email protected]
of Somos Xicanas, contact Luz Schweig: [email protected]
