by Héctor Tobar
First published 2017
This collection brings together voices from Central American writers who have made the United States their home. The anthology spans multiple generations and experiences. Some contributors fled the violent conflicts of the 1980s as refugees. Others grew up with only distant memories of their ancestral countries. Still others were born entirely in el norte, navigating identity between worlds they may never have seen. The writers come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. They live on both coasts and in America's heartland. Their work ranges from hip-hop influenced verse to literary fiction to creative experiments in Spanglish. Through poems, stories, essays, and memoir excerpts, these writers explore what it means to carry the weight of violence while nurturing hope. They examine how communities heal and persist across borders and generations. The collection reveals both shared struggles and distinct experiences within the Central American diaspora, showing how literature becomes a bridge between loss and belonging.
Genres: anthologies, american-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, navigating-between-worlds
Setting: Belize, Central America, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, United States
Period: 1980s, 21st-century
120 pages · Paperback · Tia Chucha Press
Content warnings: violence