Book of the Month

ONE BRILLIANT FLAME

Author: Joy Castro

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

ISBN-10: 1542038049 \ ISBN-13: 978-1542038041

SUMMARY:

Key West, 1886. The booming cigar industry makes it the most prosperous city in Florida. As a rebel base for the anticolonial insurgency in Cuba, it’s also a tinderbox for six young friends with ambitious dreams. They all brim with secrets: Zenaida, the daughter of an assassinated Havana journalist; power-hungry Sofia, who plots a fast track to success; Chaveta, Zenaida’s loyal comrade in arms who fearlessly flouts tradition; Feliciano, a charismatic Spanish anarchist; Líbano, the cafetero, silent and watchful; and Maceo, a daring guerrilla soldier who fights a brutal undertow. As lives intertwine, revolution smolders, and passions ignite, the bustling coral island is set to explode.

About the Author:

Joy Castro was born in Miami, raised in England and West Virginia, and educated in Texas, Joy Castro is the award-winning author of the memoir THE TRUTH BOOK, two literary thrillers set in post-Katrina New Orleans, essay and short fiction collections. Her work has appeared in various venues including North American Review, Afro-Hispanic Review, and the New York Times Magazine. Ms. Castro won the Nebraska Book Award and an International Latino Book Award; she was a Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award; and was an alternate for the Berlin Prize. She is the Willa Cather Professor of English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she teaches creative writing, literature, and Latinx studies.

Website: https://www.joycastro.com/

Twitter: @_JoyCastro

Conversations With Book

ALBORADA (DAWN): A CROSS-CULTURAL MEMOIR IN POETRY

Author: Nylda Dieppa

Publisher: Orange Blossom Publishing

ISBN-10: ‎ 1949935736 \ ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1949935738

SUMMARY:

In Alborada (Dawn): A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry, Nylda Dieppa sketches the formative and transformative experiences of her lifetime-from childhood on the island of Puerto Rico through maturity in the continental United States-as paralleled by the sun’s passage through the times of the day. From the dawning innocence of a girl’s first crush alongside the rise of a young woman’s longing to belong and be loved, Dieppa shines daylight on the anguish and delights of both growing up and parenting at every age. Her lyrical and narrative poems highlight the shadows cast by culture shock, and they reveal the encroaching darkness of sorrow and betrayal as the sun sets on a thirty-eight-year marriage. Yet Alborada also illuminates the wonder of deliverance from midnight’s despair to the hope and wholeness of a new day’s dawn.

About the Author:

Nylda Dieppa is an award-winning author, poet, speaker and motivator. Her novel, ALBORADA, has won the Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association and an International Latino Book Award for Cover Design. Ms. Dieppa is vice president of the Florida Writers Foundation, which promotes literacy in the state of Florida. She also led the Maitland Writers Group.

Website: https://www.nyldadieppa.com/
Facebook: @nyldadieppa
Instagram: @dieppanylda