Broward College Commemorates Latino Books Month 2015

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (May 6, 2015) – One of the ways to better understand and appreciate Latino culture is to study its literature. During Latino Books Month, commemorated in May, Broward College Assistant English Professor Nicolas Mansito, Ph.D., compiled a guide of the five most important, accessible and influential Latino works of literature

“Bless Me Ultima,” by Rudolfo Anaya - Anaya is an acclaimed Mexican-American writer, best known for the coming of age novel “Bless Me Ultima,” which not only reflected the Chicano culture of the 1940s in rural New Mexico, but also brought to light many important Chicano issues to a wider audience. Anaya has been credited as a leader in the Latino literary community and has even read his work at the White House. He is the recipient of a Kellogg Fellowship award and the prestigious University of New Mexico Regents Meritorious Service Medal. 

“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz - In the Latino literary tradition, there is a movement from writing about Latin American life in Latin America to one that concerns itself more with the daily life of a Latin American in the United States. Within this tradition, Diaz typically focuses on the exile or immigrant experience, focusing on issues of acculturation, assimilation, cultural struggle, language issues and biculturalism. His works is incredibly modern and tends to appeal to a wide, diverse audience. “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008.

“In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd,” by Ana Menendez - Like Diaz, Menendez also focuses on the immigrant or exile experience. “In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd” acknowledges the Cuban-American experience, specifically the Cuban-exile experience in Miami. Menendez was born to Cuban-exile parents and during her youth, lived in Los Angeles, Tampa and Miami.

“The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisnero - In this novel, Cisnero captures the experience of a Latina girl growing up in Chicago. As a Mexican-American novelist, she focuses on the Latino experience in the United States and is regarded as a key figure in Chicana literature. She has received numerous awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Texas Medal of the Arts. 

“Dreaming in Cuban,” by Cristina Garcia - Garcia is a well-known journalist and novelist born in Cuba, who later fled with family to New York City after Fidel Castro came to power. Garcia’s critically acclaimed novel “Dreaming in Cuban” centers on the Cuban revolution and ideas of poverty, idealism and corruption, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Writers’ Award. 

For more information, contact Angela Nicoletti at 954-201-7939 or anicolet@broward.edu.

-BC-