10 Afro-Latina Authors Who Prove That Latinidad Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
As we celebrate Black History Month, it’s time to give our authors the love they deserve. This month, we encourage you to read and support Black Latina and/or Afro-Latina authors. They are working tirelessly to enrich the literary landscape with their perspectives and experiences.
Growing up as a Black Latina, I often felt like I did not belong anywhere. I felt like I could not be both Latina and Black. And as a result, I felt like I was not enough of either to claim identity.
Fortunately, there are now incredibly talented authors who have written books that wrestle with these feelings and experiences.
As a kid trying to find my place in the world, I often felt like I was not Latina enough. I was American and not from the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico like my parents. I also spoke Spanish with a weird New York accent. And I wasn’t light-skinned with straight hair like JLO or Eva Mendez. I constantly heard, “You’re not a real Latina,” from family and schoolmates. In other words, my dark skin and thick curls made me too Black to be Latina.
Yet I was not Black enough to join the Black Student Groups because I rolled my R’s and spoke Spanish.
Despite my features, I was constantly told that I could never understand the struggle of being Black in America since my ancestors weren’t enslaved Americans. I would try to explain that my ancestors did not pick cotton in the South. But they cut sugarcane with machetes on plantations in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. My ancestors suffered from enslavement as well, just in a different geographic location. But somehow, that didn’t count.
It took me over 25 years to be able to finally see myself as both Black and Latina enough, as opposed to “this or that or neither.” It was challenging. But because of the literary works of those who came before me, I was able to feel like I belonged in both communities. I learned that my multiculturalism was a beautiful superpower. I hope these authors and their beautiful books help you feel Latina, Negra, and Proud.
We hope you enjoy this list of authors we curated for you. They live at the intersection of Latinidad and Blackness, and we hope you learn about them and their books.
Elizabeth Acevedo
Elizabeth Acevedo was the 2022 Young People’s Poet Laureate and the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High—which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. Her third novel, Clap When You Land, was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist. She holds a BA in Performing Arts from George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a Cave Canem, Cantomundo fellow, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion and resides in Washington, DC, with her love. Learn more here: www.acevedowrites.com
Ariana Brown
Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, TX, now based in Houston. She is the author of We Are Owed poetry collections (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). Her academic and poetic works explore queerness, Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, girlhood, loneliness, and care. Ariana is a national collegiate poetry slam champion, winner of two Academy of American Poets Prizes, and a recipient of a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Grant. She holds a BA in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies from UT Austin, an MFA in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh, and an MS in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. She currently develops ethnic studies and ELA curricula for high schools and colleges and teaches creative writing to teens in Houston. Ariana has been writing, performing, and teaching for over a decade. Learn more here: www.arianabrown.com
Tamika Burgess
Tamika Burgess is the award-winning middle-grade fiction author of Sincerely Sicily and Danilo Was Here. She was born to parents who migrated from Panamá. Before becoming an author, she wrote personal essays exploring her Black Latina identity. Moving to NYC reignited her passion for storytelling, and what began as a picture book evolved into Sincerely Sicily, a story loosely based on her life. While shaping the book over ten years, Tamika created Es Mi Cultura, a monthly newsletter celebrating Black Latinas and their African ancestry, which remains an online resource today. Reflecting on her journey, Tamika shared, “While growing up, I always enjoyed writing, as it came naturally to me. But specifically in 2012, I read R.J. Palacio’s WONDER and was so captivated by the story and the writing that I told myself, ‘I have to do this too,’ and I started the first version of what would become my debut MG novel, Sincerely Sicily.” Learn more about her work at Tamikaburgess.com
Aya De Leon
Aya De Leon teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. She is the acquiring editor for Fighting Chance Books, the new climate justice fiction imprint at She Writes Press, publishing adult novels that tell stories of people taking collective action in the here and now to solve the climate crisis. Fighting Chance is open to all popular genres: crime, romance, sci-fi/fantasy, women’s fiction, urban fiction, and beyond. Aya has published award-winning climate fiction, including SIDE CHICK NATION (2019), A SPY IN THE STRUGGLE (2020), QUEEN OF URBAN PROPHECY (2021), and THAT DANGEROUS ENERGY (2022). Aya’s YA/MG books include UNTRACEABLE (2023), UNDERCOVER LATINA (2022), and THE MYSTERY WOMAN IN ROOM 3 (free online on Orion Magazine) Aya’s work has also appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Ebony, Guernica, Bitch Magazine, VICE, The Root, and Ploughshares. In spring 2022, she organized an online conference entitled Black Literature vs. the Climate Emergency (available on YouTube). She is working on another climate novel, another YA book, and an intersectional memoir. Learn more here: ayadeleon.wordpress.com
Saraciea J. Fennell
Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Honduran American writer, founder of The Bronx is Reading and creator of Honduran Garifuna Writers. She is also a book publicist who has worked with many award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors. Fennell is the board chair for Latinx in Publishing as well as on the Advisory Board of People of Color in Publishing. She lives in the Bronx with her husband, family, and black poodle Oreo. She edited a nonfiction book titled WILD TONGUES CAN’T BE TAMED and a horror anthology titled THE BLACK GIRL SURVIVES IN THIS ONE. Visit saracieafennell.com, and follow her online at @sj_fennell, @thebronxisreading, and @hondurangarifunawriters.
Letisha Marrero
Letisha Marrero is a Californian Nuyorican Blatina writer, editor, author, and mom based in Maryland. She is the author of Salsa Magic, a middle-grade novel published by Levine Querido in 2023. As Editorial Director at Ed Trust, Letisha writes and edits content on education equity, and her work has appeared in TueNight, Education Post, TV-One, and more. She has held editorial roles at Nickelodeon, Latina Magazine, and WhatToExpect.com. She created content for organizations like Ogilvy PR and Adfero. Letisha launched a consumer-facing app, coined the #getcovered hashtag, which is still used by the White House, and has worked in multicultural marketing. As an entertainment journalist, she has interviewed icons like Pharrell Williams, Rita Moreno, and the late Celia Cruz (and was once hugged by Beyoncé!). Fluent in Spanish and Italian, she brings cultural fluency and a dynamic voice to every project. Learn more about her work at Letishawrites.com.
Jasminne Mendez
Jasminne Mendez is a Pura Belpré Honor Award recipient and a Dominican-American poet, playwright, translator, professional audiobook narrator, and author of books for children and adults. Aniana del Mar Jumps In (Dial) is a novel in verse about a young girl diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis; it received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and others. Her YA memoir, Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican American (Arte Público Press), and her debut poetry collection City Without Altar (Noemi Press), were recently recognized with honors and awards by the Texas Institute of Letters. Her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas (Arte Público Press), was the 2022 Writer’s League of Texas Children’s Book Discovery Prize Winner. She has translated best-selling picture books, including Amanda Gorman’s Change Sings (La canción del cambio) and The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (El proyecto 1619: Nacieron sobre el agua) by Nikole Hannah Jones and Reneé Watson, and the Pura Belpré Award Winning graphic novel Frizzy (Rizos) by Claribel Ortega. Learn more here: jasminnemendez.com
Cleyvis Natera
Cleyvis Natera is a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She is the author of the debut novel Neruda on the Park, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, and the International Latino Book Awards awarded it a Silver Medal for Best First Book of Fiction. The recipient of awards and fellowships from PEN America, the Vermont Studio Center, Hermitage Artist Retreat, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Natera studied literature and creative writing at Skidmore College and holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from New York University. Her fiction, essays, and criticisms have appeared in Kirkus, The New York Times Book Review, URSA, TIME, Gagosian Quarterly, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, The Washington Post, Pleiades, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among others. Her second novel, The Grand Paloma Resort, is forthcoming in August 2025. Natera teaches creative writing at Barnard College of Columbia University and Montclair State University. At Montclair State University, Natera leads the development of a new Bilingual M.F.A. Creative Writing Program. Learn more here: cleyvisnatera.com
Alyssa Reynoso-Morris
Alyssa Reynoso-Morris is a queer Afro-Latina/x Dominican and Puerto Rican award-winning storyteller, author, and motivational speaker. She is also a mother of three (a singleton and twins) and a community organizer. During the day, she works with community members, non-profit organizations, and government officials to make the world a better place. In her past life, she built water purification systems and conducted research to help establish the witness protection program for the Tribunal of Rwanda. Now, she puts on her writer’s hat to craft heartfelt stories. Alyssa was born and raised in The Bronx, New York, and currently lives in Philadelphia, PA, with her family. She is the author of Plátanos Are Love & Los plátanos son amor (a NCTE Charlotte Huck Recommended Read); The Bronx Is My Home; Gloriana Presente: A First Day of School Book & Gloriana Presente: De la República Dominicana al Bronx; Bold, Brilliant and Latina: Meet 52 Latina and Hispanic Heroes from Past and Present; and Pieces of Home. She hopes you enjoy her stories. You can learn more about her at alyssaauthor.com
Denise Rosario Adusei
Denise Rosario Adusei is the author of Cesaria Feels the Beat, a mom, and the Executive Director (ED) of the Bronx Children’s Museum with multicultural roots and connections to Brazil, Cape Verde, and the US. Her personal mission is to exhibit possibilities and portray different worlds to children. In all her roles, she sparks children’s imagination to create art. She said, “My narrative canvas stretches across borders, brushed with the hues of my multicultural and international background. Born with a pen in one hand and a passport in the other, my stories drift seamlessly between worlds, introducing young readers to the beauty of diversity and the richness of global cultures.” You can learn more about her here: deniseadusei.com
These ten Afro-Latina authors are shaping literature by writing powerful, life-changing stories celebrating Blackness and Latinidad’s rich intersection.
Through poetry, fiction, and memoir, they challenge narratives, reclaim histories, and create spaces where Afro-Latina voices are centered and celebrated. This list consists of authors who write books for child and/or adult audiences because we all deserve to feel represented. Their work is a testament to the depth and diversity of our communities, reminding us that our stories deserve to be told, uplifted, and read widely—not just during Black History Month but all year long. So, whether you’re looking for a book that affirms your identity or expands your understanding, these authors offer something truly special. Let’s honor their contributions by reading, sharing, and supporting their work.
