Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora

Jasminne Mendez, a Dominican American poet, playwright, author, and podcast host, is the author of two poetry/prose collections – Island of Dreams, and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry – and a poetry collection, Machete. She is also a contributor to Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora (Flatiron Books), edited by Saraciea J. Fennell. This anthology of bestselling authors and up-and-coming voices explores the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. Mendez, along with Elizabeth Acevedo, Cristina Arreola, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, and others, present texts that delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes to memories in the kitchen, travel around the world, addiction, and identity. It is a celebration of a rich and diverse community. Booklist called it “Candid … Nuanced … Each theme is worthy of its own volume … The deeply personal approach of each contributor will connect with readers of all backgrounds …”

Meg Medina is the 2019 Newbery Medalist for Merci Suárez Changes Gears. She also is the author of the young adult novel Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass; the novels Burn Baby Burn and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind; and the picture books Mango, Abuela, and Me and Tía Isa Wants a Car. In Merci Suárez Can’t Dance (Candlewick), the sequel to Merci Suárez Changes Gears, seventh grade is a challenge for Merci. For starters, there are the expectations of science teacher Mr. Ellis, who expects her to be a smart as her brother, new responsibilities, and an obnoxious classmate – and oh, she can’t dance. Dancing makes her almost as queasy as love does. She’s been assigned to co-manage the tiny school store with a boy she barely knows, but whom she might actually like, and here comes Edna Santos, who is bossier and more obnoxious than ever, now that she is in charge of the annual Heart Ball. One thing is for sure, though: Merci Suárez can’t dance. But ready or not, Merci won’t be able to avoid love or dancing for very long. Booklist noted that “Filled with the familiar, laugh-out-loud humor from the first title, this sequel will quickly pull readers, both returning and new, into Merci’s world.”

Janel Martinez is a multimedia journalist who covers technology and entrepreneurship. She is the founder of the site Ain’t I Latina? and is also a contributor to Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora (Flatiron Books), edited by Saraciea J. Fennell. This anthology of bestselling authors and up-and-coming voices explores the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. Martinez, along with Cristina Arreola, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Ibi Zoboi, and others, present texts that delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes to memories in the kitchen, travel around the world, addiction, and identity. It is a celebration of a rich and diverse community. Booklist called it “Candid … Nuanced … Each theme is worthy of its own volume … The deeply personal approach of each contributor will connect with readers of all backgrounds …”

Zakiya Jamal, a writer and media manager, contributed the nonfiction essay “Cuban Impostor Syndrome” to Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora (Flatiron Books), edited by Saraciea J. Fennell. This anthology of bestselling authors and up-and-coming voices explores the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. Jamal, along with Elizabeth Acevedo, Kahlil O. Haywood, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, and others, present texts that delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes to memories in the kitchen, travel around the world, addiction, and identity. The book is a celebration of a rich and diverse community. Booklist called it “Candid … Nuanced … Each theme is worthy of its own volume … The deeply personal approach of each contributor will connect with readers of all backgrounds …”

Kahlil O. Haywood is a writer and editor. His work has been featured on Bossip, Madame Noire, and YouTube, and he writes Ebony’s weekly Damn, He’s Got a Point column, which provides a Black male perspective on various topics. He is also a contributor to Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora (Flatiron Books), edited by Saraciea J. Fennell. This anthology of bestselling authors and up-and-coming voices explores the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. Haywood, along with Elizabeth Acevedo, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Ibi Zoboi, and others, present texts that delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes to memories in the kitchen, travel around the world, addiction, and identity. It is a celebration of a rich and diverse community. Booklist called it “Candid … Nuanced … Each theme is worthy of its own volume … The deeply personal approach of each contributor will connect with readers of all backgrounds …”

Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Honduran writer and the founder of The Bronx is Reading – Bronx Book Festival, a child and youth literacy organization. She is also a book publicist who has worked with many award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors. Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora (Flatiron Books) is her anthology of bestselling authors and up-and-coming voices presenting work that explores the myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. Contributors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Cristina Arreola, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Naima Coster, Natasha Díaz, Kahlil O. Haywood, Zakiya Jamal, Janel Martinez, Jasminne Mendez, Meg Medina, Mark Oshiro, Julian Randall, Lilliam Rivera, Ibi Zoboi, and Fennell herself. Their texts delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes to memories in the kitchen, travel around the world, addiction and identity. The book is a celebration of a rich and diverse community. Booklist called it “Candid … Nuanced … Each theme is worthy of its own volume … The deeply personal approach of each contributor will connect with readers of all backgrounds …”

Angie Cruz is a writer and editor. She is the author of Dominicana: A Novel (Flatiron Books) and two other books, Soledad: A Novel (Simon & Schuster), and Let It Rain Coffee: A Novel (Simon & Schuster).

Naima Coster is the author of Halsey Street: A Novel, a 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction finalist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Kweli, The Paris Review, Catapult, and elsewhere. In What’s Mine and Yours: A Novel (Grand Central Publishing), a community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will entwine their two families together in unexpected ways over the next 20 years. Jade – Gee’s steely, ambitious mother – is determined to give her son the tools he’ll need to survive as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. Noelle’s headstrong mother, Lacey May, is a white woman who refuses to see the half-Latina side of her daughters. When Gee and Noelle’s paths collide, the two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And as love is built and lost, the past is never left far behind. Esquire noted that “Coster’s remarkable characters, each one of them authentically flawed and gorgeously realized, propel this wise and loving story ever forward, making for a graceful meditation on family, inequality, and the ties that bind.”