Book of the Month
TEJANALAND
Author: Teresa Palomo Acosta
Publisher: Ashland Poetry Press
ISBN-10: 1623499887 / ISBN-13: 978-1623499884
SUMMARY:
This collection by Teresa Palomo Acosta—poet, historian, author, and activist—spans three decades of her writing. The collection is divided into four parts: poems, essays, a children’s story, and plays. Each work addresses cultural, historical, political, and gender realities that she experienced from her childhood to the present.
The plays, set in the Central Texas Blackland Prairies where Acosta was raised, provide a unique Latina vision of memory, identity, and 
experience and are a vital contribution to Chicana feminist thought. The essays focus on Acosta’s literary heroes Jovita González de Mireles, Sara Estela Ramírez, and Elena Zamora O’Shea, important writers who contributed significantly to Tejana literature and to Texas letters. The children’s story, “Colchas, Colchitas,” is based on Acosta’s most notable poem, “My Mother Pieced Quilts,” which pays homage to her mother and the many women of her generation who employed needles and thread, creating both practical and symbolic artifacts.
Teresa Palomo Acosta
Teresa Palomo Acosta is cofounder and former vice president of the Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation for Texas Women’s History. She is the author of many works of fiction and poetry and is coauthor of LAS TEJANAS: 300 YEARS OF HISTORY. She lives in Austin.
Twitter: @TAMUPress
Publisher Facebook: @TAMUPress
Publisher Website: www.tamupress.com
Conversations With Book
The INHERITANCE OF ORQUIDEA DIVINA
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN-10: 1982102543 / ISBN-13: 978-1982102548 /
ASIN: B08VJJTWRW
SUMMARY:
The Montoyas are used to a life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers—not for graduations, weddings, or baptisms. But when Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral and to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn the secrets that she has held onto so tightly their whole lives. Instead, Orquídea is transformed into a ceiba tree, leaving them with more questions than answers.
Seven years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Rhiannon, granting them unexpected blessings and powers. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one as it seeks to destroy Orquídea’s line. Determined to save what’s left of their family and uncover the truth behind their inheritance, her descendants travel to Ecuador—to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked back.
About the Author:
Zoraida Córdova is the acclaimed author of more than a dozen novels and short stories, including the Brooklyn Brujas series, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate, and The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. In addition to writing novels, she serves on the board of We Need Diverse Books, is the coeditor of the bestselling anthology VAMPIRES NEVER GET OLD, and is the cohost of the writing podcast Deadline City. She writes romance novels as Zoey Castile. Zoraida was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and calls New York City home. When she’s not working, she’s roaming the world in search of magical stories. For more information, visit her at ZoraidaCordova.com.
Website: Zoraidacordova.com
Instagram: @zoraidasolo
Twitters: @zlikeinzorro, @AtriaBooks
Facebook: @atriabooks
