Winner of the Miguel Mármol Prize, this collection of inter-related stories delves into the life of Andi Rowe—a young woman of Mexican and Irish heritage—to give an intimate account of one family’s passage from the immigrant story to the American story, and the cycle of loss, adaptation, and rediscovery that is innate to that experience. Set largely in Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Valley, and crossing generations and borders, these stories focus on the quiet moments between explosions, where tension simmers just beneath the surface. From a Border Patrol agent whose own mother crossed the border illegally to a lonely woman seeking companionship with her hired day-laborer, characters seek revelation in the most ordinary of experiences, their actions filled with humor, longing, and honesty. In the tradition of Flannery O’Connor, Toni Margarita Plummer explores themes of grace and redemption as each story spirals toward a surprising but inevitable conclusion. The Bolero of Andi Rowe, an impressive work by an exciting new talent, offers a compassionate look at the struggle between meeting cultural expectations and seeking happiness, and the sacrifices and triumphs made along the way.

The Bolero of Andi Rowe: Stories

Plummer, Toni Margarita

Literature & Fiction

Curbstone Books

Call Me Henri

Enrique, a young boy at the heart of Lorraine López's novel, faces abuse at home and danger on the barrio streets. Yet he is driven to succeed by the desire to join that "other America" he sees on TV and in the movies, and is aided in his quest by compassionate teachers. His ambition finds expression in his determination to drop his ESL class in favor of taking French, and his story begins, Call me Henri. Lorraine López (author of Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories) has created a vivid picture of barrio life, filled with honesty, insight, and humor for young adults. She paints a balanced and detailed landscape of Enrique's world. Although Enrique is confused and angered by his mother's refusal to stand up for him against the abuse of his stepfather, he also draws strength from the supportive and loving family of his friend Francisco. While some of his teachers are uncaring or inept, others provide help and encouragement at critical moments in his life. When Enrique witnesses his friend Horacio gunned down in a drive-by shooting and is seen by the assailants, gang members set out to kill him. As the novel reaches its climax, Enrique must make some agonizing decisions. Although specifically about barrio life, this novel is universal in its themes-the drive for success, the desire for love and family support, and the need for true friendship. López's fully delineated characters provide a rich and credible mural of our human comedy.

López, Lorraine

Teen & Young Adult

Halting Steps represents the most complete single-volume retrospective in English of Claribel Alegría’s seven-decade career. The volume collects all of Alegría’s poems from her fourteen previously published books and debuts several new poems under the title “Otherness.” 
Alegría was born in Nicaragua during the United States occupation of that country. Alegría’s family opposed the occupation and moved to El Salvador, where she grew up. Her poetry is not only lyrical and introspective but also politically engaged. Her verse has always spoken forcefully, specifically, and fearlessly to matters of social justice in her region. She strikes a universal theme, however, in giving a voice to individuals of all classes in their struggle against oppression, but especially women who must contend with a system in which men hold the power and women are excluded. Alegría demonstrates her remarkable range with deeply personal poems, perhaps most notably in the poem cycle “Sorrow,” as she moves steadily through the waves of grief she experiences after her husband’s death. 
In Halting Steps, both longtime admirers and those new to her work can appreciate the sustained creative power of Claribel Alegría’s poems.

Halting Steps: Collected and New Poems

Alegría, Claribel

Poetry

Raouf Mama is widely beloved by children and adults alike for his books and especially for his African and multicultural storytelling, which incorporates poetry, song, music, and dance.
In Fortune’s Favored Child, the master storyteller tells his own story, beginning in the West African country of Benin. Through a harrowing experience with sickness, an encounter with a clairvoyant traditional healer, and astonishing twists of fortune, the protagonist struggles to uncover his real identity, to get an education, and to make his own way in the world. His journey takes him to the shores of the United States to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan and begin a new chapter in his life..

Fortune's Favored Child

Biographies & Memoirs

Mama, Raouf

Community & Culture

<div>In The Pleasure Marriage, Tahar Ben Jelloun tells the epic story of a romance that explores desire and the intolerance for interracial marriage in Moroccan society. Amir is a prosperous merchant based in Fez, where he has a wife and four children. On one of his annual business trips to Senegal, he enters into a "pleasure marriage"--a temporary union permitted by Islamic law--with the alluring Nabou. Overcome by her passion and sensuality, he falls in love, with repercussions for&nbsp;three generations scarred by racism, immigration, and deportation. &nbsp; Nabou returns to Fez as Amir's second wife, weathering the jealous cruelty of Lalla Fatma, his first partner. Isolated within her new home, Nabou gives birth to twin sons, one black and one white, who come of age on the opposite sides of racial, social, and political chasms&nbsp;and who chart vastly different courses. The Pleasure Marriage showcases Ben Jelloun's mastery of metaphor and lyrical narrative as he continues to take us into the worlds of Moroccan culture through his exquisite language and literary genius. &nbsp;</div>

The Pleasure Marriage: A Novel

BEN JELLOUN, Tahar

Literary

The Censors is the only bilingual collection of fiction by Luisa Valenzuela, one of Latin America's best known and most widely translated authors. This selection of stories from Clara, Strange Things Happen Here, and Open Door, which delves into the personal and political realities under authoritarian rule, gives a rich representation of her literary talent.

The Censors: A Bilingual Selection of Stories

Valenzuela, Luisa

Humor & Satire

Centralia Dead March is a documentary novel based on the struggle of a radical union to establish better working conditions and solidarity among lumbermen, miners, railroad and migrant workers during the early part of this century. Wesley Everest, Ray Becker, Bert and O.C. Bland, Loren Roberts and Eugene Barnett lived and worked around Centralia, Washington and were active in the Wobblies, the International Workers of the World. Because of its doctrine of worker unity, its stand against racist hiring practices and its call for militant tactics, the I.W.W., the most feared union among the ruling classes, was subject to massive arrests and numerous court actions. When the I.W.W. led the northwester woods out on strike during the First World War because wages had dropped while production increased, they were branded "traitors" in the local papers. On November 11, 1919, during the first Armistice parade, a mob of Centralia "patriots" raided the union hall. In the conflict, three soldiers were shot by workers defending their property; Everest was beaten, castrated, and hanged from a bridge; and seven workers--including Becker, the Blands, Roberts, and Barnett--were sentenced to from 25 to 40 years. Centralia Dead March recreates these historical events and examines the long-term consequences of the violence and repression.

Centralia Dead March

Churchill, Thomas

United States

Six absurdist, humorous short stories from renowned Danish poet Benny Andersen.&nbsp;

Selected Stories

Andersen, Benny

Apollo Helmet

Scully, James

1991 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence The Concrete River is a collection of poems by poet laureate of Los Angeles Luis Rodríguez. They illuminate the gritty idiosyncrasies of immigrant life in urban barrios spanning Los Angeles to Chicago to Harlem. Rodríguez lends powerful voices to those struggling to keep the gas on, to find work, and to keep love. Populated by a vibrant cast of characters, ranging from the drugged, to the eccentric, to the heartbroken, Rodríguez’s poems protest capitalism, violence, and exploitation while reveling in the potential of compassion.

The Concrete River: Poems

Rodríguez, Luis J.

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