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MOTHER'S DAY POEM -- WHO ARE YOU? / QUIEN ERES TU? -- BY MANUEL A. MELENDEZ

  The Latina Book Club wishes everyone a Happy Mother's Day.   And in honor of our Moms, on earth and in heaven, our friend author Manuel Melendez shares with us a poem he wrote five years ago for his Mom on her 80th birthday.             From Manny:   To honor her strength and her wonderful heart, I’m sharing this poem that I wrote for my mother when we celebrated her 80 th Birthday.   Five years later, the poem is one of the things I’m proud to have written for her, and now I know with her blessings, I want to dedicate this poem to every mother that brings that strength, that love and sweetness into all their children’s heart.   Happy Mother's Day!     Feliz Dia de Madres!   Manny and his Mom     WHO ARE YOU?   When I was a child I would look at you and ask myself Who is that woman? Who are you? are you the woman who cleaned my fa...

Q&A WITH AUTHOR KAREN VALENTIN

    The Latina Book Club welcomes author Karen Valentin .  She w rites for Daily Guideposts and is the author of the spiritual memoir THE FLAVOR OF OUR HISPANIC FAITH (Doubleday and Judson Press) and the children's books WHAT DID ABUELA SAY and BLOCK PARTY (Just Us Books).  Happy Reading. Leaving the stability of a salary job for the instability of being a writer is terrifying. But it’s the only way I can really live a life that is worth living! —Karen Valentin Q:   Your first book was THE FLAVOR OF OUR FAITH: REFLECTIONS ON HISPANIC LIFE AND CHRISTIAN FAITH and you also write Daily Guideposts, which are spirit-lifting devotions. Do you think Faith is a big trait of all Hispanics? A: Yes. In my experience as a Latina, Faith is huge part of our culture. Daily life is seasoned with prayers, blessings, and encouragement with biblical verses. Hispanic culture can also become a trait of faith in many...

BOOK OF THE MONTH: THE CRUEL COUNTRY by Judith Ortiz Cofer (Blog Tour & Giveaway)

   The Latina Book Club is proud to be part of Judith Ortiz Cofer’ s blog tour for this extraordinary and poignant memoir.    We just had to make it our May Book of the Month, especially with Mother's Day just days away.   We wish Judith  all the best and want to offer her our deepest sympathy on the loss of her mother.    And to our Dear Readers, Happy Mother's Day to you and yours. GIVEAWAY:  Please leave a comment on this blog post or on our Twitter page, and you will be entered to win a copy of THE CRUEL COUNTRY.  Continental residents only. University of Georgia Press "I came home to face the heretofore unacknowledged fact that death is not a surprise; death is the given.” – Judith Ortiz Cofer Emotional. Honest. Heartbreaking. Readers will cry and marvel at this well-written, well-documented journal of grief.  Author Judith Ortiz Cofer is known for the candor in her writing, but this me...

CULTURAL IDENTITY: How I Celebrate My Latinidad by Graciela Limón

    The Latina Book Club is proud to welcome author Graciela Limón ,  who will tell us how she celebrates her Latinidad. Plus, we’ll learn about her new suspense novel,  THE INTRIGUING LIFE OF XIMENA GODOY. When I was a little girl growing up in East Los Angeles, I loved school.  You see, I went to Hammel Street School, a public grammar school that had been there since forever, and even better, it was a school where all the kids were Mexican.  Most of us were born in the barrio, but others had recently come up with their familias from Mexico.  But it was all the same; we all spoke Spanish – on the sly, of course, because the teachers scolded or punished us when they caught us talking, as they said, “funny.”  Another thing I loved was that kids took a lunch in a little brown bag, many times exchanging that delicious gordita for a burrito.  I loved school because it was hardly a change from home where I lived with my mom, da...

BOOK OF THE MONTH: BECOMING JULIA DE BURGOS: The Making of a Puerto Rican Icon by Vanessa Pérez-Rosario

    ¡Río Grande de Loíza!… Mi manantial, mi río, desde que alzome al mundo el pétalo materno; Río Grande de Loíza!… My wellspring, my river since the maternal petal lifted me to the world.                         ---Julia de Burgos, Río Grande de Loíza Illinois University Press How many of us have heard of Julia de Burgos but never read any of her poetry?  How many of us have heard of how she died and was buried in a potter’s field, but never realized the extent of her influence? Professor Vanessa Pérez-Rosario has written a new book on Julia de Burgos’ life and her place in Puerto Rican culture.   Julia de Burgos was a poet and activist.   Her influence spread in the 1930s when the nationalist movement on the island was run by men to the Nuyorican writers of the 1970s to today’s modern writers who have adopted Ju...