National Hispanic Heritage Month continues from September 15-October 15th. To celebrate, here are 15 great memoirs written by Hispanic American authors.
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App kid : how a child of immigrants grabbed a piece of the American dream
by Michael Sayman The story of a young Latino who taught himself to code at age 13, became Facebooks youngest employee ever, and went on to create dozens of apps, which have been downloaded more than 3 million times worldwide. |
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The distance between us : a memoir
by Reyna Grande The American Book Award-winning author of Across a Hundred Mountains traces her experiences as an undocumented child immigrant, describing how her parents' dreams of better opportunities for their family were marked by her father's violent alcoholism, her efforts to obtain a higher education and the inspiration of Latina authors. |
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Hola papi! : how to come out in a Walmart parking lot and other life lessons
by John Paul Brammer The popular LGBTQ columnist and writer presents a memoir though a series of essays that chronicle his life growing up as queer, mixed race kid and offers advice for young people facing the same journey. |
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A house of my own : stories from my life
by Sandra Cisneros The much-loved author of The House on Mango Street presents a collection of true stories and nonfiction pieces, spanning nearly three decades, that, read together, paint an intimate portrait of a literary legend's life and career. |
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Illegally yours : a memoir
by Rafael Agustin This heartwarming and comical memoir looks at how a successful TV writer accidentally discovered that he was an undocumented immigrant in his teenage years and how it turned his entire world upside down. |
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In the Dream House : A Memoir
by Carmen Maria Machado The award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties shares the story of her relationship with an abusive partner and how it was shaped by her religious upbringing, her sexual orientation and inaccurate cultural beliefs about psychological trauma. |
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The line becomes a river : Dispatches from the Border
by Francisco Cantú A former agent for the U.S. Border Patrol describes his upbringing as the son of a park ranger and grandson of a Mexican immigrant, who upon joining the Border Patrol encountered the violence and political rhetoric that overshadows life for both migrants and the police. |
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My broken language : a memoir
by Quiara Alegría Hudes A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright shares her lyrical coming-of-age story against a backdrop of her devastated barrio home and the idiosyncratic, troubled and fiercely loving Puerto Rican family that inspired her literary voice. |
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My time among the whites : notes from an unfinished education
by Jennine Capo Crucet A collection of essays that focuses on the author’s struggles to find a home and identity in America as the daughter of Cuban refugees despite her family’s efforts to fit in with white American culture. |
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Once I was you : a memoir of love and hate in a torn America
by Maria Hinojosa The Emmy Award-winning journalist and anchor of NPRs Latino USA documents the story of immigration in America through the human lens of her familys experiences and her decades in the media. |
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Ordinary girls : a memoir
by Jaquira Díaz A biographical debut by a Pushcart Prize-winning writer traces her upbringing in the housing projects of Puerto Rico, her mother's battle with schizophrenia, her personal struggles with sexual assault and her efforts to pursue a literary career. |
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Solito : a memoir
by Javier Zamora A young poet reflects on his 3,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the United States when he was nine years old, during which he was faced with perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions during two life-altering months alongside a group of strangers who became an unexpected family. |
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Trejo : my life of crime, redemption, and Hollywood
by Danny Trejo Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, this memoir from one of the most recognizable, prolific and beloved character actors traces his journey from crime, prison, addiction and loss to unexpected fame as Hollywoods favorite bad guy with a heart of gold. |
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Upper Bohemia : a memoir of an American childhood
by Hayden Herrera Set against a backdrop of 1950s New York, Cape Cod and Mexico, this poignant coming-of-age memoir follows the author, the daughter of artistic, bohemian parents, as she recounts an idyllic and surreal childhood at the hands of two narcissists who treated her like an afterthought. |
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The undocumented Americans
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. |