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Photos: Bottlecap Press; Haymarket Press; Red Hen Press By Sofía Aguilar April 10, 2025 – 09:00 Latina poets like Gabriela Mistral , Julia de Burgos, and Rosario Castellanos were trailblazers for Latinas to use their voice and tell our stories through poetry. Though oftentimes their works are overshadowed or overlooked, their impact is undeniable and we see that legacy of poderosas in poetry today. The number of rising Latina poets like Natalie Diaz , Elizabeth Acevedo , and Ada Limón making a name for themselves and becoming a force in the publishing world is a testament to what Latinas bring to the world of poetry. In honor of the important work Latina poets are doing today, we’ve put together a list of poetry collections by Latinas that have or will come out this year. You can use this list as a jumping-off point for your own TBR this month, a discussion point in your book club, or your shopping list (preferably going to BIPOC and Latinx-owned bookstores ). This is by no means an exhaustive list but is a good starting place for you to diversify your poetry lists. Read on to learn more about 12 poetry collections by Latina poets that we’re excited to read in 2025. Black Mestiza by Yael Valencia Aldana Photo: University Press of Kentucky Release Date: January 21, 2025 Stay connected! Subscribe now and get the latest on culture, empowerment, and more. SIGN ME UP! Este sitio está protegido por reCAPTCHA y Google Política de privacidad y Se aplican las Condiciones de servicio . Thank You! You are already subscribed to our newsletter Black Mestiza is the full-length poetry collection by Caribbean Afro-Latinx/e poet Yael Valencia Aldana, who is of Indigenous, Black, and white descent. Throughout the book, she reckons with these multifaceted identities and pays homage to her ancestors’ legacy, resilience, and fortitude. From a poem about how Black people silently yet soulfully acknowledge and see each other, to a poem about the suffering that women of color endure, works about her Caribbean parents and her longing for connection with her Colombian grandmother, this is a gorgeous collection about ancestry, heritage, cultural pride, origins, blood ties, community, and her everyday experiences as a mixed-race woman, daughter, and mother. My Split Tongue // Mi Lengua Dividida by A.L. Garcia Quill & Crow Publishing House Release Date: February 13, 2025 My Split Tongue is a bilingual English-Spanish collection of poems and short fiction by Latina poet A.L. Garcia. Pulling from her experiences as a multilingual speaker and creative translator, she puts together a book that is sure to captivate and haunt your spirit long after you reach the last page. She covers topics like passion, duality, culture, and family, not only to represent herself but also her community at large. Raw to the Touch by Jazmine Becerra Green Photo: Bottlecap Press Release Date: February 14, 2025 Raw to the Touch is a collection of poetry, prose, and essays by Jewish-Chicana poet Jazmine Becerra Green. She covers the wide spectrum of her motherhood experiences that often go underrepresented, unspoken, or ignored: the unraveling of her identity, the isolation of her postpartum depression, the hope that is there through it all, somehow still glimmering. Written with haunting, unflinching honesty, this is a poetry collection not only about womanhood and parenthood but also about longing, grief, love, truth, and resilience. Like a Hammer: Poets on Mass Incarceration edited by Diana Marie Delgado Photo: Haymarket Books Release Date: March 4, 2025 Like a Hammer: Poets on Mass Incarceration is a new anthology edited by Mexican-American poet Diana Marie Delgado that delves into the trauma caused by the incarceration system and prison-industrial complex in the U.S. Through their tough, powerful words, they reveal the cracks in the system that lead to rigid following of restrictions and rules, how imprisonment upends the lives of their families and the following generations. More than a look at statistics, these are the stories behind the numbers we see, undoing dominant narratives, shining light on bureaucracy, fighting against injustice, and encouraging communities to organize in the fight for change. And ultimately, it gives readers a blueprint for how to envision a better future. Some of the contributors in the anthology include Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Natalie Diaz, Gustavo Guerra, and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, among others. Home Remedies by Gina Cornejo Photo: Bottlecap Press Release Date: March 5, 2025 Home Remedies is a poetry chapbook by queer Peruvian American poet Gina Cornejo. Cornejo, who uses she/they pronouns, is a collection made up of five pieces that attempts to address the true hurt of homesickness and advises readers on how to seek metaphorical treatment. Part travel diary, part nostalgia, part dreamspace, she situates herself as the protagonist in a journey about home: being grounded in it, leaving it, longing for it, and never knowing it. She writes of her life in the freezing Midwest, her immigrant Peruvian father preparing for his singing gigs, traveling to Peru, struggling to pronounce her first language. Spanning from France to North Carolina, this book acts as encouragement and a guide toward remedying the pain of feeling disconnected. hambre by Isa Alvarez Photo: Bottlecap Press Release Date: March 11, 2025 hambre is a debut poetry chapbook by Guatemalan immigrant Isa Alvarez where she explores and meditates on her migrant experience. Having lived in both Guatemala and the U.S., she covers topics like resilience, grief, motherhood, spirituality, and ancestors. She recounts the loss of the matriarchal figure, her ties to her home and grandmother. She pays homage to the town of Chiquimula (the Land of the Birds) and invokes Indigenous practices of oral storytelling and knowledge-sharing through generations. Ultimately, this is a book about healing, a story behind the frightening news articles about immigrants, and a love letter to all immigrants who constantly redefine what home means for themselves. Bilingual Bitch by Angelica Davila Photo: Abode Press Release Date: March 15, 2025 Bilingual Bitch by Mexican poet Angelica Davila explores the complicated way of life that builds up when you’re Mexican and growing up in the U.S. Touching on themes of multilingual expression, generational conflict, and longing for a homeland, Davila attempts to document famous and little-known U.S.-Mexican history through her eyes, oral knowledge, and chisme. The collection is written in both English and Spanish, designed for Latinas everywhere who are always in some way searching for home. Variations in Blue by Adela Najarro Photo: Red Hen Press Release Date: March 18, 2025 Variations in Blue by Nicaraguan poet Adela Najarro is a meditation of dysfunctional relationships, the complexities of Latinx representation, and Nicaragua as a homeland of volcanoes. Written in multiple series of different poetry structures, including ekphrastic poems (poems inspired by a work of art), her work jumps off the page with fury and passion. Exploring trauma, family, and culture, she shows how our experiences and all the complexities that come with it can be viewed in one version of time, each with its unique design. Diarios Pizarnik / Pizarnik Diaries by Alejandra Pizarnik Photo: Lumen Release Date: April 22, 2025 Diarios Pizarnik / Pizarnik Diaries is a new collection of work by revered Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik in a revised, extended, and definite edition. Though she passed in 1972, she is considered one of the most unique and influential Latin American poets of the 20th century. This book reveals works from her diaries, notebooks, and loose papers, some for the very first time. Readers are given a glimpse into her personal life and writing process, including how she turned her pain into beautiful poems. Intimate details about her become clear, like her obsessive relationship to her writing, the doubts she had about her own talent and work, and how she often led herself to exhaustion through recreational activities. This is a must-have companion to her other poetry collections and her meditations on intimacy, mental illness, and death. My Perfect Cognate by Natalie Scenters-Zapico COVER ART UNAVAILABLE Release Date: September 30, 2025 My Perfect Cognate is an upcoming poetry collection by Natalie Scenters-Zapico, who lives in both El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua in Mexico. Utilizing both English and Spanish, she uses language to reflect on her relationships to her body, family, and larger borders between her home countries. With urgency and passion, she touches on topics like violence, motherhood, isolation, and the border. Written through the lens of a recent and severe postpartum depression, she seeks language to describe her pain accurately and bridge understanding between herself and the reader. Ultimately, she hopes to break apart the border entirely. Startlement by Ada Limón Photo: Milkweed Editions Release Date: September 30, 2025 Startlement is the highly anticipated poetry collection by Ada Limón, the U.S. Poet Laureate and the first Chicana and Latina to serve in the role. This new book is a compilation of her six previously published books, spanning from The Hurting Kind to The Carrying to Bright Dead Things . She also adds in some striking new work, exploring the briefness of human lives, the universe, and our fragile place in the world. Seven Legendary Monsters by Clara Elena Garcia COVER ART UNAVAILABLE Release Date: Spring 2025 Seven Legendary Monsters is an upcoming poetry collection by Paraguayan poet Clara Elena Garcia. Made up of 67 poems, together they make up a retelling of the Paraguayan myth of seven legendary monsters. Narrated by the monsters, the story follows the women who birthed, faced, and ultimately kill them in the end. In this Article Featured latina latina poets national poetry month national poetry month books Poet poetry poetry books More on this topic Culture How Latina Immigrants Can Confront Workplace Bullying April 09, 2025 – 11:00 Culture Embracing the Challenges of Unlearning as a Latina in my 30s April 07, 2025 – 09:00 Culture Embracing Being “De Aqui y De Alla” as a Mexican American April 02, 2025 – 11:11 Culture Digame: Mala & Diosa of Locatora Radio Talk Latina Representation in Podcasting March 31, 2025 – 18:00
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