Ben Fox invited me to write a “listicle” for his website Shepherd.com. A listicle is an article that includes some type of list; in the case of mine, it’s a list of what I considered the five best books written by Puerto Rican authors in the diaspora. I had quite a difficult time narrowing the many possibilities to five books. As I wrote this piece, I kept thinking how these books had helped my development as a writer. I also thought how Migrations, my latest short story collection, is indebted to the continual development of diasporican writing, in general.
If you’re interested in the literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, please check it out. I’m sure that others would have different books on this list. Apologies if I annoyed anyone by leaving a loved book from the list. In any case, let me know what you think. What books would you have included? Have you read any or all of these books? Do you agree with my assessment of these books and authors? I seriously want to hear from you. If anything, this type of exercise generates discussion about criteria applied to a literary canon. It forces us to think if the exercise in itself is valuable and necessary. When it comes to the literature of Puerto Ricans residing in the United States, we could certainly use more critical discussion.
Here is the link to my listicle:
https://shepherd.com/best-books/by-writers-of-the-puerto-rican-diaspora
What is Shepherd for Authors?
Whether you are a writer or an avid reader, Shepherd has something for you. Here’s what Ben Fox has to say about his website:
I love wandering around bookstores letting random books capture my attention. Nothing will ever replace the “bookstore experience”, but I want to reimagine book discovery online with a lot more serendipity. Thus Shepherd.com was born.
Shepherd launched on April 19th, 2021, and in addition to helping readers, we are also helping authors. There is a growing trend that authors have to become their own marketing team. That concerns me because it takes time away from writing and it is very hard to do. I want to make it easier for authors to get their books in front of the readers who would be most interested in their book.
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