We are often told that we should preserve history, that if we don't tell our stories they will be lost and forgotten, especially for marginalized communities. Here are a few examples of recent literary attempts to shed a bit of light on tales that otherwise might languish in darkness. Each one is unique, but whether mundane, inspirational, or epic, they help to plug gaps in what we know about identity, culture, history, and, ultimately, ourselves.
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Silvia Vasquez-Lavado
Henry Holt and Co. - February 1
Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir following her journey to Mount Everest.
A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she’d suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent— the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death’s close proximity—woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest.
“The Mother of the World,” as it’s known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn’t go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest’s base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward.
In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience.
Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is a humanitarian, mountaineer, explorer, social entrepreneur, and technologist living in San Francisco. In 2014, she launched Courageous Girls, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking with opportunities to find inner strength and cultivate their voices by demonstrating their physical strength. Courageous Girls has had projects in Nepal, India, the United States, and Peru. Vasquez-Lavado was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the Corporate Heroes of 2015. CNET named her one of the 20 Most Influential Latinos in Silicon Valley. She has also been recognized by the Peruvian government as one of the “Marca Peru” ambassadors (country brand ambassadors). She is a member of the Explorers Club and one of the few women in the world to complete the Seven Summits.
Winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, Stepmotherland, Darrel Alejandro Holnes’s first full-length collection, is filled with poems that chronicle and question identity, family, and allegiance. This Central American love song is in constant motion as it takes us on a lyrical and sometimes narrative journey from Panamá to the USA and beyond. The driving force behind Holnes’s work is a pursuit for a new home, and as he searches, he takes the reader on a wild ride through the most pressing political issues of our time and the most intimate and transformative personal experiences of his life. Exploring a complex range of emotions, this collection is a celebration of the discovery of America, the discovery of self, and the ways they may be one and the same.
Darrel Alejandro Holnes is an Afro-Panamanian American writer and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing (Poetry). His poems have previously appeared in the American Poetry Review, Poetry, Callaloo, Best American Experimental Writing, and elsewhere. Holnes is a Cave Canem and CantoMundo fellow who has earned scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Postgraduate Writers Conference at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and residencies nationwide, including a residency at MacDowell. His poem Praise Song for My Mutilated World won the C. P. Cavafy Poetry Prize from Poetry International. He is an assistant professor of English at Medgar Evers College, a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), where he teaches creative writing and playwriting, and a faculty member of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University.
Federico Peña - October 2021
[from the author/publisher]
The title, Not Bad for a South Texas Boy, comes from a note penned by Federico Peña's college English professor. While first read as encouraging, it took years to understand the nuanced message of low expectations for one of the University of Texas' few students of color. From modest beginnings in South Texas, through perseverance, Peña would earn a law degree; fight for social justice as a civil rights attorney; serve as a Colorado Legislator and Denver's Mayor; and become our nation's Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy.
Describing a challenging life journey from the small border town of Brownsville, Peña details his transformation from his original dream of practicing conventional law, to a passion for fighting for the underserved. He discovers a rekindled hope in America by lobbying for education reforms in Colorado and then serendipitously becomes a state legislator. Surprising political pundits, he is elected as Mayor of Denver where he blazes through a calamitous recession, builds a new international airport and modern convention center. He invests in neighborhoods, preserves historic buildings, and brings major league baseball to Colorado.
As Transportation Secretary, he helps restore Los Angeles from its 1994 devastating earthquake, introduces new transportation safety standards and technological advances, and supports significant infrastructure investments. As Energy Secretary, he fashions a national energy policy, invests in clean energy technologies, and travels the world fighting for America's interests. He becomes the first Latino to lead two federal departments in our nation's capital.
Today, Peña, a successful businessman, remains engaged in local, national and civic affairs and is highly sought for advice and leadership.
Peña aims to inspire Americans who have lost faith in our country through his life's challenges and his regained optimism for America. He provides guidance for our nation's leaders with long-term strategies for the 21st Century.
Ultimately, he believes that if a boy from South Texas can make a difference...so can you.
North High School Students - December, 2021
[from news reports about this project]
A look at North Denver through the eyes of the students growing up there. Students in North High School's Latinos in Action class created a photography and poetry book inspired by the pride, pain, and perseverance of their community.
[from the Dedication]
This book is dedicated to all the Latinx people in our community who feel the same pain and experiences we do. This book is also dedicated to the past and current families of North Denver, including Anna Hernández, who are impacted by gentrification and white appropriation. These photos are meant to show appreciation of an old authentic Northside that we, as students, choose to remember and preserve.
Later.
Manuel Ramos writes crime fiction. His latest novel is Angels in the Wind.
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