LatinX Audio Lit Mag

On the border between Mexico and Texas, where Yara grew up, the air is filled with a little light magic. In this episode, Yara talks about how this environment produced this gentle spooky tale.

Born in México and raised on the border, Yara is drawn to darker tales and is an aficionado of Mexican folklore. She attributes this to her own mother and abuela who told the best spooky stories around. Yara is a Latina dual language educator, mother and author who is passionate about representation and advocacy in all realms. As an elementary dual language (Spanish) educator of nearly a decade, she has been fortunate enough to gain a window into the exact type of literature that children are drawn to, and, also, what is missing within the current selection of literature for children. She has had short stories published in LatineLit magazine. Yara currently lives in Austin with my two daughters, husband and rescued Blue Heeler pup. You can follow her writing on Twitter at @Yariwrites.

"As the dementia accelerated, she claimed to see people at the window at night, including her beloved husband who had passed 5 years prior...Other, perhaps most sinister, nightly visitors, abuelita said, would whistle and try to convince her to unlatch the windows." 

Born in México and raised on the border, Yara is drawn to darker tales and is an aficionado of Mexican folklore. She attributes this to her own mother and abuela who told the best spooky stories around. Yara is a Latina dual language educator, mother and author who is passionate about representation and advocacy in all realms. As an elementary dual language (Spanish) educator of nearly a decade, she has been fortunate enough to gain a window into the exact type of literature that children are drawn to, and, also, what is missing within the current selection of literature for children. She has had short stories published in LatineLit magazine. Yara currently lives in Austin with my two daughters, husband and rescued Blue Heeler pup. You can follow her writing on Twitter at @Yariwrites.

Is Flash Fiction the potato chip of the literary universe? Is there any difference between genre fiction and literary fiction? Tune in to this week's behind-the-scenes episode to find out.

Kevin is a gay, Latino fiction writer, and cardiovascular research scientist. He is a second-generation immigrant born in Miami, Florida to Cuban and Colombian parents. For more about him, please see his website: https://kevinmcasin.wordpress.com/. Or follow his Twitter: @kevinthedruid.

"Manuel heard the rattle of the seed curtain. He unfurled, cloaked in black, and looked up from his chair. Without a word–Seers never speak for themselves–he held out his hand over the table to welcome his guest and to accept payment for the card reading.

“Señor, me llamo Daniel. Please, mi family, will they survive the storm?” The man asked as he took a seat and offered a small, linen bag of coins."

Kevin is a gay, Latino fiction writer, and cardiovascular research scientist. He is a second-generation immigrant born in Miami, Florida to Cuban and Colombian parents. For more about him, please see his website: https://kevinmcasin.wordpress.com/. Or follow his Twitter: @kevinthedruid.

Did Teresa really name a skin tag, a queta, Jabba the Queta? Can a story with body horror be hopeful? Tune in to find out the answer to these questions and more in this week's episode.

Toni Margarita Plummer was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant mother and white father. She is the author of the story collection The Bolero of Andi Rowe and winner of Somos En Escrito's 2021 Extra Fiction Contest. A Macondo Fellow, her short fiction has been published in Aster(ix), Kweli, The Acentos Review, Hispanecdotes, and Hinchas de Poesía, among others. Plummer works in book publishing and serves on the board of Latinx in Publishing. She lives in the Hudson Valley. You can find her work at https://tonimargaritaplummer.wordpress.com  and on Twitter at @tmargaritaplum. You can also find out more about the mentorship programs from Latinx in Publishing at https://latinxinpublishing.com

On the one hand, family can be ultra-irritating; on the other, sometimes they're the only ones that have your back. In Toni Margarita Plummer's story, Attack of Las Quetas, family is there for the main character for better AND for worse. You'll never look at a crochet hook the same way again. 

Toni Margarita Plummer was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant mother and white father. She is the author of the story collection The Bolero of Andi Rowe and winner of Somos En Escrito's 2021 Extra Fiction Contest. A Macondo Fellow, her short fiction has been published in Aster(ix), Kweli, The Acentos Review, Hispanecdotes, and Hinchas de Poesía, among others. Plummer works in book publishing and serves on the board of Latinx in Publishing. She lives in the Hudson Valley. You can find her work at https://tonimargaritaplummer.wordpress.com  and on Twitter at @tmargaritaplum

Are panderias the gateway to heaven? Can you agree to write monthly columns for multiple literary magazines and still have a personal life? Find out the answers to these hard-hitting questions and more in this week's episode.

Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Sledgehammer Lit, Yellow Arrow Journal, Susurrus, and others. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review and The Daily Drunk. Her writing is inspired by observation of the natural world, the dynamics of relationships, and the question of belonging. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez or visit her website www.melissknunez.com.

In this week's story, Melissa Nunez takes the familiar song 'Vie en Rose' and turns it on its head. You may never listen to that song the same way again.

Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Sledgehammer Lit, Yellow Arrow Journal, Susurrus, and others. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review and The Daily Drunk. Her writing is inspired by observation of the natural world, the dynamics of relationships, and the question of belonging. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez or visit her website www.melissknunez.com.

Someone once claimed that the answer to life, the universe, and everything was 42. But really, the answer is tortillas. Especially the ones freshly made by the family of your heart. Listen as Mayte Castro walks us through the magic of tortillas.

Mayte C. Castro's poetry focuses on immigration, culture and travel, and self-expression as a road to sharing the realities of living in the United States as a daughter of immigrants. Mayte's cultural background is Mexican. Additional published poetry can be found in braveexpressions.com, https://wapoetlaureate.org/poetry-to-lean-on/, Ice Colony, The Under Review, Arte Latino Now, and Azahares. You can follow her on Instagram at Mexi_Ginger.

In Mayte's poem, tortillas are more than a vehicle for tasty fillings. 

"Soft, crunchy, malleable, torn

Mayte C. Castro's poetry focuses on immigration, culture and travel, and self-expression as a road to sharing the realities of living in the United States as a daughter of immigrants. Mayte's cultural background is Mexican. Additional published poetry can be found in braveexpressions.com, https://wapoetlaureate.org/poetry-to-lean-on/, Ice Colony, The Under Review, Arte Latino Now, and Azahares. You can follow her on Instagram at Mexi_Ginger.