Latino Hispanic Heritage in Literature

Latino Hispanic Heritage defines California, the nation, and many parts of the world. A month was designated in 1988 by President Reagan to celebrate this important aspect of the history of the United States. It begins September 15 and ends October 15. September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. They all declared independence in 1821. In addition, Mexico, Chile and Belize celebrate their independence days on September 16, September 18 and September 21, respectively.

Here are a few Latino Interest titles, some in English and some in Spanish (and some bilingual), that we and some of our patrons recommend. They are by authors from North, South, and Central America:
The hummingbird's daughter : a novel / Luis Alberto Urrea.
Chronicle of a death foretold / Gabriel García Márquez
César Vallejo : the complete posthumous poetry (English & Spanish)
In the time of the butterflies / Julia Alvarez
Y una sed de ilusiones infinita / Rubén Darío
El huracán lleva tu nombre / Jaime Bayly.
The devil's highway : a true story / Luis Alberto Urrea.
Daughter of fortune : a novel / Isabel Allende
Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada. (English & Spanish)/ Pablo Neruda

And here are some titles that explore the history of Spain and the Spanish in the Americas:
Conquistador : Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the last stand of the Aztecs / Buddy Levy
El espejo enterrado / Carlos Fuentes
A Traveller's History Of Mexico/ Kenneth Pearce
A land so strange: the epic journey of Cabeza de Vaca: the extraordinary tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard who walked across America in the sixteenth century / Andrés Reséndez
Mission San Francisco de Asís / Kathleen J. Edgar and Susan E. Edgar.

Recent Newsmakers:
Mario Vargas Llosa: born in 1936, novelist, journalist and essayist, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Sonia Sotomayor: Appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States in August 2009. She is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice.

Links:
Info on Mario Vargas Llosa found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Vargas_Llosa
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2010/
Info on Justice Sotomayor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor
Hispanic Heritage Month: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_Heritage_Month