Join Authors Unbound in honoring Hispanic Heritage this fall. September 15th through October 15th, we celebrate Hispanic and Latinx culture, achievements and history.
Check out these Latinx authors that bring joy, vibrancy and prose to the literary community. They offer diverse speaker profiles, publications and backgrounds. Any of these authors would be an inspirational choice for your Hispanic Heritage Month speaker programming.
Andrew Boryga is the author of Victim, which explores identity politics, diversity with a capital D, and how social media has weaponized both movements. The book centers on a Hispanic kid from the Bronx, Javier “Javi” Perez, who utilizes his POC status to hustle his way into the literary world. In addition to being a novelist, Boryga was a former justice reporter at The Daily Beast, was born and raised in the Bronx, New York and lives in Miami, Florida. He started his journalism career writing for a local newspaper in the Bronx as a high school senior and has since gone on to write for the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Atlantic and other publications.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the New York Times Bestselling author of the novels Velvet Was the Night, Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and many other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu’s Daughters). Her novel The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, is a dreamy reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau, set against the backdrop of nineteenth century Mexico. Mexican by birth and Canadian by inclination, Silvia is a columnist for The Washington Post, and has won a number of awards. Silvia’s next two novels, Silver Nitrate and Untamed Shore were published in 2023. Silvia’s newest, The Seventh Veil of Salome is out August 6th, 2024.
Jennifer De Leon is the author of Borderless, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From and the editor of Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education. Her essay collection, won the Juniper Prize. De Leon is a winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant 2016, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. After a decade teaching in Boston Public Schools, she is now an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Framingham State University and a faculty member in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at Bay Path University as well as a GrubStreet instructor and board member. Her most recent YA novel, Borderless, is about 17-year-old Maya and her mother, caught in the crosshairs of gang violence, who set off on a perilous journey from Guatemala City to the US Border.
Reyna Grande is the author of The Distance Between Us, an eye-opening memoir about life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico to the United States. Born in Mexico and raised by her grandparents after her parents left to find work in the U.S., at nine years old, Reyna entered the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant to live with her father. Filled with hope, she quickly realized that life in America is far from perfect. At a time when immigration politics are at a boiling point in America, Reyna Grande is an important public voice for Mexican Americans and immigrants of every origin. has the power to change minds and hearts. Her latest book is a Young Reader’s Edition of New York Times bestselling book, Spare Parts (May 2023).
Raquel Vasquez Gilliland is a Mexican American poet, novelist and painter. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Alaska, Anchorage in 2017. She’s most inspired by fog and seeds and the lineages of all things. Her first poetry collection was Dirt and Honey and the second was Tales From the House of Vasquez. Her debut YA novel, Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything, was published in 2020; her second YA novel, How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, was published in 2021. Her adult debut novel, Witch of Wild Things, was a USA Today Bestseller, one of Amazon’s Best Romances of September 2023 and a People Magazine Romantasy Pick. Her next adult novel, Lightning in Her Hands, will be released in October of 2024.
KidLit Authors
Elisabet Velasquez is a Brooklyn-born Boricua whose poems are an exploration of her life. She has performed at Lincoln Center Out Of Doors, Pregones Theatre, Bushwick Starr Theatre, The Bowery Poetry Club, Brooklyn Museum, Museum Of Natural History, The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Rutgers University, Williams College, Adelphi University, Pace University, Princeton University, James Madison University, Harvard University and The Amber Rose Slut Walk 2017. Her work has been featured on TIDAL, NBC, Now This, Huffington Post, Latina Magazine, Vibe Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, Centro Voces. She is a VONA Alum, 2017 Poets House Fellow. She is the winner of Button Poetry’s 2017 Poetry Video Contest. She is a 2019 Frost Place Fellow. When We Make It is her debut YA in verse novel. Other forthcoming work will be found in the anthology: What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage In The Age Of Trump.
Rex Ogle is the author of Free Lunch, winner of the 2020 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award. Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex’s voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America. Abuela, Don’t Forget Me was released in September 2022. His latest, Four Eyes, came out in 2023.
Mirelle Ortega is an award-winning Mexican artist and writer for kidlit and animation based in Los Angeles, California. She is the author-illustrator of River of Mariposas and Magic: Once Upon a Faraway Land, for which she received a 2023 Pura Belpré Award Honor for illustration and an International Latino Book Awards medal. She’s a prolific children’s books illustrator creating covers for best-selling middle grade series such as From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Cece Rios and Love Sugar Magic, artwork for acclaimed chapter books series such as The Mythics, Vote for Effie and Mermaids Rock, and vibrant illustrations for picture books like Small Room, Big Dreams, The Mermaid Princesses and Pepe and the Parade.
Ana Siqueira is a Spanish-language elementary teacher and an award-winning Brazilian children’s author also published in the Foreign Language educational market – EL PATO QUIERE UVAS. Her picture books include Bella’s Recipe for Success/Disaster and If Your Babysitter is a Bruja/Cuando tu Niñera es una Bruja, Abuela’s Super Capa/La Super Capa de Abuela, Room in Mami’s Corazón, and a few more books to be announced.
