U.S. Latino/a Writers

There are hundreds of well-known Latino/a poets, novelists, and playwrights contributing to the aesthetic and intellectual culture of the United States today. Their names are grouped here by genre and then listed alphabetically. In poetry, they range from the canonical (William Carlos Williams) to the well-recognized (Sandra Cisneros, Richard Blanco, Martín Espada) to the newly emerging (Eduardo C. Corral, who became in 2011 the first Latino to win Yale Younger Poets prize). In drama, they range from Pulitzer-prize winners (Nilo Cruz) to important but lesser known performance artists. Under the category of “prose,” the genres include novels, short stories, memoirs, and autobiographies.  These prose writers range from Pulitzer-prize winners (Oscar Hijuelos) and New York Times best-sellers (Julia Alvarez) to newly emerging voices. Again, it bears repeating that this bibliography, regardless of the genres employed below, is selective and not exhaustive; that the works included here offer points of entry—ways of understanding the intersections of cultures and languages, as well as an opportunity for broadening the undergraduate curricula.