Honorable Mentions for FlowerSong Press Authors for the International Latino Book Awards 2024

Honorable Mentions for FlowerSong Press Authors for the International Latino Book Awards 2024

Xánath Caraza

FlowerSong Press este 2024 ha recibido tres menciones de honor para los International Latino Book Awards en las siguientes categorías. ¡Felicidades, FlowerSong Press!

 The Rudolfo Anaya Best Latino Focused Fiction Book Award – English:

 Honorable Mention, The Sacred History of Braulio Cantero, C.F. Espinoza

The Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award - One Author – Bilingual:

Honorable Mention, Tejerás el destino, You Will Weave Destiny, Xánath Caraza

Honorable Mention, La Lengua Inside Me, Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

The Sacred History of Braulio Cantero by C. F. Espinoza

This dark and comic novel tells the Cantero family's exaggerated and sometimes fantastical stories in the wake of losing their patriarch, Braulio "Pepper" Cantero. The protagonist explores the rich textures of life in Mexico, the Frontera, and the American Southwest while navigating the horrific experiences of abuse and the intergenerational pain carried across these landscapes. The Sacred History of Braulio Cantero delves deep into the stories we tell ourselves to justify and possibly forgive generational family abuse. This novel explores the importance of story and family history and how they influence our mundane lives. The Sacred History of Braulio Cantero is a raunchy, exuberant novel filled with images that will haunt and have you laughing simultaneously.  

 

Tejerás el destino / You Will Weave Destiny by Xánath Caraza

Traveling and being transported to another place means experiencing different seasons and times. It is an essential part of Xánath Caraza’s poetry. The feeling given by the pages of Tejerás el destino / You Will Weave Destiny stems from the complexity of the images with which we are presented. These Nahuatl images and objects appear as offerings for our appreciation and to bring us closer to times that initially seem remote.

This collection, Terás el destino / You Will Weave Destiny, is also a passionate homage to one of the women who made a difference in fifteenth century Tenochtitlan. Macuilxochitzin or Macuilxochitl was a poet born during the most prosperous period of the expansion of the Aztec civilization. Daughter of the royal advisor Tlacaelel and niece of the Tlatoani warrior Axayacatl. Her life and her texts are an example of the gender parallelism of pre-Hispanic Mexico where women had the same opportunities as men.

 

La Lengua Inside Me by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

La Lengua Inside Me is a journey reflected in poems inspired by mi familia, LatinX cultural heroines and heroes and politico-themed verses that share the universal passion on every page of this empowering poetry collection. La Lengua Inside Me starts off with me as a child, and as the narrative grows, the poems progress by rediscovering mi cultura that has been so prominent and influential in mi vida. The poems from La Lengua Inside Me focus on reclaiming my Latinx heritage, mi lengua and my culture that will resonate in our community and beyond.