As part of our calendar celebrating national heritage months and observances, explore these selected works that speak to Latinx and Hispanic history and heritage.
Alex Millan Jumping Portrait, Adál, 2017
- In Jose Hernandez Diaz’s prose poem “Ode to a California Neck Tattoo” (Issue 21), “a man in a Chicano Batman shirt” travels to the tattoo parlor and into an understated ode to the state of California; in this podcast, Diaz discusses his poem, surrealism, prose poetry and more.
- Francisco Márquez’s poem “Provincetown” (Issue 20), winner of the 2020 DISQUIET Prize for Poetry evokes a sense of fluidity and merging between body and place.
- “El mundo al revés/The World Upside Down” (Issue 02) is a bilingual presentation of modern folktales by Ilan Stavans with images from artist Teresa Villegas.
- In Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes’ “Ana Mendieta Haunts the Block,” (Issue 18) Donald Judd’s museum in Marfa, Texas is haunted by Ana Mendieta, “Cuban American visual and performance artist, enfant terrible of the 1980s New York art scene.”
- In these two poems from The Life Assignment by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, which appear in both English and Spanish, the speaker reflects back on his life and his experiences of different forms of love.
- This excerpt from Alfredo Aguilar’s “CORRIDO” reflects on a visit to Friendship Park on the San Diego–Tijuana border, where residents from both countries can meet.
- Ilan Stavans’ retelling of “Princess Ixkik’” from the Popol Vuh, which was originally written down in verse by members of the K’iche’ nobility in what is today Guatemala, tells the story of birth, death, fear, revival, and encounters with the nonhuman world.
And don’t miss our Issue 16 portfolio De Puerto Rico: Un año después de la tormenta (From Puerto Rico: One Year After the Storm), a rich collection of poetry, essays, fiction, and art from the island and diaspora.
Reading List: Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month