I think of genuinely great novels less as books and more like giant monoliths on the side of the road. They’re cultural landmarks with historical freight. As we pass them by, we measure not just them but ourselves. For me, the North American fiction canon consists of about ten novels that have stood the test…
Category: great novels
Dispatches from Spain 2: Salamanca
Some cities are distinctly literary. Buenos Aires springs to mind. It has the largest number of bookshops per capita of any major city and was home, at least for a while, to Borges, Ocampo, Cortázar, and Neruda. Of course there’s also London, Paris, and New York. Slightly less famous is Salamanca. Roaming around for a…
“Abbott” by Saladin Ahmed, Sami Kivelä, and Jason Wordie
In the opening panels of this graphic novel, we’re introduced to a heroine so heroic, sassy, and cool she makes J-Lo look like Mickey Mouse. She’s a black, bisexual, chain-smoking, brandy-swigging reporter. She has the swagger of a supermodel and she represents pretty much everything good that came out of the Sixties: civil rights, women’s…
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” – Happy 50th Birthday
Gabriel García Márquez’s novel was published 50 years ago. It’s widely recognized as the masterpiece of 20th century Latin American literature – some would say all of 20th century literature. It’s the book that ushered in the Latino Boom, the ascension of Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Julio Cortázar to the world stage….
“Damnificados” named finalist for Eric Hoffer Book Award
More pleasing news about my novel: Damnificados has been named as a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. According to http://www.hofferaward.com, “The Eric Hoffer Award honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. Since its inception, the Hoffer has…
“All They Will Call You” by Tim Z. Hernandez
In 1948 there was a plane crash in Los Gatos Canyon, California. In the plane were 28 undocumented Mexican workers who were being deported, and four Whites – the pilot, co-pilot, stewardess, and immigration agent. Nobody survived. The papers carried the names of the four Whites, but the Mexicans at first went nameless. The Whites…
The Black Renaissance
A new Black Renaissance is dawning right now. Our literature is stronger than ever. Those great, great writers who came before us all have their heirs. For James Baldwin, read Ta-Nehisi Coates. For Ralph Ellison, read Colson Whitehead. For Zora Neale Hurston, read Toni Morrison. They aren’t like-for-like, but our modern black writers are hugely…
“American Tumbleweeds” – by Marta Elva
Those of us living on or near the Mexican-American border know the themes by rote. We feel, hear, and see the dichotomies every day: the interplay of Spanish and English; the struggles between the old (Mexican tradition) and the new (North American brutalism); the familial ties loosened in the quest for a better life across…
“A Manifesto for Social Change: How to Save South Africa” – by Moeletsi Mbeki and Nobantu Mbeki
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which…
The Importance of Publishing Black Writers: Elizabeth Nunez in “Poets & Writers” mag
It’s Martin Luther King Day, 2017. Yesterday I happened to pick up my copy of Poets & Writers magazine and came across a terrific piece by the novelist Elizabeth Nunez. Her theme is this: “How to get motivated to do one’s best work if one is … ignored by the gatekeepers of awards and reviews,…
“The Lost City of the Monkey God” by Douglas Preston
Douglas Preston’s new book is part memoir, part adventure, all thrills. The tale concerns a 500-year-old mystery in the heart of Honduras. For half a millennium, rumors have existed of the ruins of an ancient civilization hidden beneath the rain-forest, named the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Preston recounts the…
J Journal
The latest edition of the awesome J Journal – New Writing on Justice – is out. The Fall 2015 edition contains my poem “Police Report on the Death of a Black Man.” I wrote this poem for Black History Month in 2015 and performed it with the Poet Laureate of Silver City and Grant County, Elise…
