“A fantastic new anthology of Mexican American literature, Nepantla Familias, plunges into the memories of writers who have experienced a culture that hovers between cultures. Not all writers are Texans, but it belongs on any up-to-date Texan’s bookshelf.”
---Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman

“Such a window, such an ax, into the hard, human struggles of writers, sisters and brothers here — resolving, harmonizing and perhaps, simply just telling their Nepantlas. These lives in-between bridges of culture, of gender, of memory and presence, invisibility and courage, of raped bodies on the precipice of healing and wholeness, of speaking versus silence, of shame in-between wholeness, of big time university life then riding back to Segundo Barrio DNA. And of mothers drifting and daughters blazing in the Now. Each page, a revelation. Each story, a valley of tears and a mountain of triumph. This Nepantla Familia will tear your heart open. You will finally get to feel like a human being. You will have humanity in your hands. One of a kind, I thank Troncoso for this anthology — I bow before these writers of truth and love. A mega-ground-crackling and life expanding house of diamonds.”
---Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the USA, Emeritus

“In his introduction to the anthology, Sergio Troncoso says he believes the feeling of nepantla is a universal one.... I think he is absolutely correct. Monoculture is a myth, and one of many fictions I hope to see dismantled in my lifetime. And I believe embracing nepantla, the in-between, as well as the people who exist in in-between worlds, who will live and die in that liminal space, is the key toward healing lifetimes of division.”
---Elizabeth Gonzalez James in Ploughshares Blog

“Currently reading Nepantla Familias: a phenomenal anthology of Mexican American literature on families in between worlds by @SergioTroncoso. Super recommended!!”
---Pati Jinich of Pati’s Mexican Table on Twitter

“Surviving in two worlds is difficult. That experience was brilliantly captured in a new book titled Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American families in between Worlds. Edited by Sergio Troncoso and enriched with contributions from 26 Mexican American authors who have lived the nepantla experience, this book is both a sociological study and an ethnographic model of lives for Mexican Americans in the United States. It is particularly poignant for those who live in borderlands, like we do in Texas, with Mexico on the south of the Rio Grande and the U.S. and Texas to the north.”
---Corpus Christi Caller-Times

“Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in Between Worlds edited by Sergio Troncoso is a beautiful collection of essays, poems, and short stories that explores lives of Mexican Americans grappling with ever-shifting identities, cultures, and languages.”
---Vesna Jaksic Lowe in Immigrant Strong

“With almost 250 pages of joy—that’s what readers take away in the end—readers of Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds are certain to find themselves mirrored, cautioned, advised, thrilled, disappointed, deeply moved many times over.”
---Michael Sedano in La Bloga

“Bursting with a broad range of high-quality essays, poems and short stories, Nepantla Familias offers the reader a full banquet of modern Mexican American writings on spiritual, psychological, and international borderland experiences. These award-winning writers explore the Aztec concept of Nepantla, life on a philosophical borderland that describes not only the mestizo conundrum but the reality of every human being open to the contradictions and conflicts of their own uniqueness.”
---Carmen Tafolla, State Poet Laureate of Texas

“Anthologies are snapshots of specific cultural moments and this one by Sergio Troncoso comes at a time of anti-immigrant sentiment and ideological polarization. As is clear from these rewarding pages, we Mexican-Americans have ancestral knowledge about that fracture. But we don't panic. Instead, we first build bridges and then cross them because we know that a life divided is, in fact, incommensurably rewarding. Kudos to the contributors for their courage to put the pieces of the bridge together.”
---Ilan Stavans, author of Popol Vuh and The Seventh Heaven: Travels through Jewish Latin America

“Open this book, trace the seam with your fingertips, caress the page, and let the words linger on your lips; let them lead you to Nepantla, where we dare and dance and delight and dream and wait as we always have. What a beautiful collection! I loved it.”
---Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Pura Belpré Author Award Winner

*Bronze Medal for Anthologies from Independent Publisher Book Awards

*Top Five 2021 Books on Race and Ethnicity by Diverse Voices Book Review

*Silver Medal for Best Culturally Themed Academic Book from International Latino
      Book Awards

*Da Vinci Eye Award for superior cover artwork from Eric Hoffer Book Awards

“A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity.”
---Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in Between Worlds

Introduction / Sergio Troncoso --

Nonfiction:
Here, there / David Dorado Romo --
Life as Crossing Borders / Sergio Troncoso --
Losing my Mother Tongue / Reyna Grande --
Día de Muertos / Stephanie Elizondo Griest --
Calle Martín de Zavala / Francisco Cantú --
The Wonder Woman T-Shirt / Rigoberto González --
In(toxic)ated Masculinity / Alex Espinoza --
Piacularis / Domingo Martinez --
All the Pretty Ponies / Oscar Cásares --
Nobody's Favorite / Lorraine M. López --
Elote Man / David Dominguez --
Paco / Stephanie Li --
The Hole in the House / Sheryl Luna --
Letter to the Student Who Asks Me How I Managed to Do It / José Antonio Rodríguez --

Poetry:
The Last Time I Went to Church / José Antonio Rodríguez --
Duty / Sheryl Luna --
Self-Portrait in the Year of the Dog / Deborah Paredez --
Why You Never Get in a Fight in Elementary School / Octavio Quintanilla --
Jarcería Shop / Sandra Cisneros --
Garden of Gethsemane / Diana Marie Delgado --
You're tired of your life / Octavio Quintanilla --
The Soul / Diana Marie Delgado --

Fiction:
Dutiful Daughter / Diana López --
Melancholy Baby / Severo Perez --
Mundo Means World / Octavio Solis --
Border as Womb Emptied of Night and Swallows / ire'ne lara silva --
Family Unit / Rubén Degollado --
The Surprise Trancazo / Helena María Viramontes --
Mujeres Matadas / Daniel Chacón --
The Astronaut / Matt Mendez --

About the Editor.
About the Contributors.