Hey, remember when I used to update this blog all the time? Yeah, me too. Then I got a job and the glory days of just hanging out and talking to cool translators and writing reviews were, well, quite frankly just hard to maintain. Anyway, enough existential crisis for one day; Leyendo Latam need not suffer any longer for my corporate gal lifestyle.* Leyendo Latam is now open to external book reviews. Review Criteria  Fiction only, please! No poetry.  Writers must be women, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming people from Latin America or with Latin American heritage.   Trans ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. For such a massive country, Brazil seems to have a dearth of writers in English translation when you compare it to neighbouring Argentina, for example. Setting aside your Clarice Lispectors and your Paulo Coelhos, I’d hazard a guess and say that it’s tricky for most non-Portuguese speakers to name any other Brazilian writers off the top of their head. But, if you do a bit of rooting and reading around, there are plenty of contemporary Brazilian writers that you should know (and read)—here’s my pick of just five. (Plea ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Honduran American writer and publicist, who’s worked with New York Times bestselling authors including Daniel José Older, Jerry Pinkney, Chris Colfer, Kass Morgan, Malala Yousafzai, Julie Andrews, Bethany C. Morrow and more. She’s also the founder of The Bronx is Reading, an initiative launched to promote literacy throughout the Bronx. (Currently, they’re trying to fund a bookstore on Fordham Road; donate here.)  Saraciea is also  Board Chair for Latinx in Publishing and on the ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. JD Pluecker is a language worker from Texas, who has translated work by Sylvia Aguilar-Zéleny, Sara Uribe, and Luis Felipe Fabre, amongst others. Their work often leans towards the cross-cultural, the non-normative, and the queer. As well as translating the words of others into English, Pluecker is also a poet and essayist in their own right, having published several full-length works and chapbooks, including Ford Over (Noemi Press, 2016) and Swamps Fly (2021), both of which form part of their decade-long project The ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. Guatemalan literature is often associated with narratives of resistance—such as Rigoberta Menchú’s controversial I, Rigoberta Menchú—and, well, the Popol Vuh, a collection of Mayan myth and legend originally written in Quiché. And yet, contemporary Guatemalan literature, whether produced in Guatemala or by diasporic writers and immigrants, defies categorisation. Here are my picks for five contemporary Guatemalan writers you should know (and read). (Please note that this series predominantly focuses on authors and essa ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. Like its island companion Haiti, the literature of the Dominican Republic is perhaps not as widely translated into English as that of other (whiter) Latin American nations. However, Dominican literature—especially that produced by the vast Dominican diaspora in the US—is, of late, taking up more space on the world literary stage, in translation or otherwise. Here are my picks for five contemporary Dominican and Dominican-American writers you should know (and read). (Please note that this series focuses on authors and ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. Although home to a rich if relatively youthful literary tradition, Venezuelan literature is often hard to come by in English translation and, more often than not, little circulated even in Spanish-speaking countries. Nowadays, contemporary Venezuelan literature appears to be dominated by writers exiled from their home country, immigrants in other nations; in fact, that applies to every one of my picks for the five contemporary Venezuelan writers you should know (and read). (Please note that this series focuses on auth ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. You hear Peruvian literature, you possibly think Mario Vargas Llosa, maybe César Vallejo. Perhaps Blanca Varela. Or maybe you’re much more informed than the Google results which pull up an impressively robust roster of male, Spanish-language writers. Maybe you’re in-the-know about Quechua-language, Nikkei, and Tusán authors. Or—gasp!—women and non-binary writers. If you’re not, don’t fret, because here are my picks for five contemporary Peruvian writers you should know (and read). (Please note that this series focuses ..read more

This post contains affiliate links to independent bookstores and publishers. Historically produced both on and off the island of Puerto Rico thanks to Spanish colonisation, by the latter half of the 20th century, Puerto Rican literature was greatly influenced by the cresting Nuyorican movement founded by Puerto Ricans based in New York. Now, you’ll find Puerto Rican authors writing in both Spanish and English, in the US, Puerto Rico, and beyond. That in mind, here are my picks for five contemporary Puerto Rican writers you should know (and read). (Please note that this series focuses on author ..read more