Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15, a celebration of the histories, cultures, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities. At IndiePubs, it is also a chance to do the thing we love most: point readers toward books they might not find anywhere else.
The list below spans the Spanish-speaking world and its diaspora, in English, in Spanish, and in translation. There are foundational works and brand-new ones, novels and poetry and picture books, from six independent and university presses. Where a book was translated, we have named its translator, because that work deserves the credit. Tap any section to jump in.
Foundational Voices|Latin America, in Translation|Escrito en Español|Latinx Poetry|For Younger Readers
Foundational Voices
Some books do not just tell a story; they open a door and hold it open for everyone who comes after. These two foundational works of Chicana literature are where a great deal of what follows begins.
Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa (Aunt Lute Books)
Part memoir, part history, part poetry, and wholly its own thing, Anzaldúa's 1987 classic gave a language to life on the border between cultures, languages, and identities. Few books have shaped Chicana and Latina thought more deeply, and it still reads as urgently as ever.
Gulf Dreams by Emma Pérez (Aunt Lute Books)
One of the first Chicana lesbian novels ever published, Pérez's story follows a young woman coming of age in a racist Texas town and the obsessive love she cannot shake. Told in fragmented, dreamlike prose, it was championed by Gloria Anzaldúa herself.
Latin America, in Translation
Independent presses are how a novel written in Buenos Aires or Caracas reaches a reader in English, and the translators who carry them across are artists in their own right. Both of these books travel, in every sense of the word.
The Book of Mistaken Journeys by Clara Obligado, translated by Molly Wagschal (Sundial House)
Eleven interlinked stories that wander across centuries and continents, from a mammoth cub's first hunt to an Argentine exile returning to Buenos Aires. Obligado, who fled Argentina's dictatorship for Madrid in 1976, writes about exile and chance with a spiraling, surprising grace. Winner of Spain's Premio Setenil.
From Savagery by Alejandra Banca, translated by Katie Brown (Restless Books)
Twelve stories throw their arms around a generation of young Venezuelan migrants scraping out a life in Barcelona, as delivery bikers, shop workers, and dreamers. Electric and defiant, Banca's debut finds beauty and community in the most precarious of circumstances. Katie Brown's translation won an English PEN Award.
Escrito en Español
For the Spanish readers on your list, and anyone who wants to meet these authors in their own words. Two of Latin America's most significant women writers, one modern classic and one brand new.
Oficio de tinieblas (The Book of Lamentations) by Rosario Castellanos (Planeta)
A landmark of twentieth-century Mexican literature, Castellanos's novel reimagines an Indigenous uprising in Chiapas and the collision of Maya and ladino worlds. Written by one of Mexico's most important voices, it is offered here in the original Spanish.
Un silencio lleno de murmullos by Gioconda Belli (Planeta)
After her mother dies in Madrid, Penélope sifts through her belongings and uncovers the passionate, secret life of a woman who gave everything to the Sandinista revolution. Belli, the celebrated Nicaraguan author of The Inhabited Woman and now an exile herself, writes a moving story of mothers, daughters, and the personal cost of political conviction. In Spanish.
Latinx Poetry
Some of the most vital poetry being written today comes from Latinx voices, and independent presses are where much of it finds a home. Two award-winning collections to start with.
After Rubén by Francisco Aragón (Red Hen Press)
A decades-long journey in poems and prose that braids the personal, the political, and the historical, in conversation with the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío. A generous, expansive collection that earned a starred Booklist review.
I Was a Bell by M. Soledad Caballero (Red Hen Press)
An award-winning debut that moves between Chile and the United States, migration and belonging, science and wonder. Caballero writes with warmth and precision about what it means to build a life across borders.
For Younger Readers
Bilingual books that let the youngest readers see themselves on the page, in both of their languages. One tender, one joyful, and both worth reading aloud.
Caravan to the North: Misael's Long Walk by Jorge Argueta, translated by Elizabeth Bell (Groundwood Books)
A middle-grade novel in verse told in the voice of Misael, a young Salvadoran boy whose family joins the caravan heading north. Written by a Salvadoran poet who made the same journey decades ago, it is honest about the fear and the hope alike. A starred, deeply humane story for readers nine and up.
Colors! / ¡Colores! by Jorge Luján, translated by John Oliver Simon and Rebecca Parfitt (Groundwood Books)
A bilingual celebration of color from acclaimed poet Jorge Luján, paired with luminous watercolors by Piet Grobler. As day turns to night, each color reveals its own small wonder. A gentle, lyrical read-aloud for the very youngest, in both English and Spanish.
From a Chicana classic to a Nicaraguan novel to a picture book about the colors of the world, these are voices worth celebrating all year, not only for a month.
Pick the one that calls to you, and start there. Happy reading, and happy Hispanic Heritage Month.
Happy reading!