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Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds
"A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Top Five 2021 Books on Race and Ethnicity by Diverse Voices Book Review
Nepantla Familias brings together Mexican American narratives that explore and negotiate the many permutations of living in between different worlds—how the authors or their characters create, or fail to create, a cohesive identity amid the contradictions in their lives. Nepantla—or living in the in-between space of the borderland—is the focus of this anthology. The essays, poems, and short stories explore the in-between moments in Mexican American life—the family dynamics of living between traditional and contemporary worlds, between Spanish and English, between cultures with traditional and shifting identities. In times of change, family values are either adapted or discarded in the quest for self-discovery, part of the process of selecting and composing elements of a changing identity.
Edited by award-winning writer and scholar Sergio Troncoso, this anthology includes works from familiar and acclaimed voices such as David Dorado Romo, Sandra Cisneros, Alex Espinoza, Reyna Grande, and Francisco Cantú, as well as from important new voices, such as Stephanie Li, David Dominguez, and ire’ne lara silva. These are writers who open and expose the in-between places: through or at borders; among the past, present, and future; from tradition to innovation; between languages; in gender; about the wounds of the past and the victories of the present; of life and death.
Nepantla Familias shows the quintessential American experience that revives important foundational values through immigrants and the children of immigrants. Here readers will find a glimpse of contemporary Mexican American experience; here, also, readers will experience complexities of the geographic, linguistic, and cultural borders common to us all.
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.
Top Five 2021 Books on Race and Ethnicity by Diverse Voices Book Review
Nepantla Familias brings together Mexican American narratives that explore and negotiate the many permutations of living in between different worlds—how the authors or their characters create, or fail to create, a cohesive identity amid the contradictions in their lives. Nepantla—or living in the in-between space of the borderland—is the focus of this anthology. The essays, poems, and short stories explore the in-between moments in Mexican American life—the family dynamics of living between traditional and contemporary worlds, between Spanish and English, between cultures with traditional and shifting identities. In times of change, family values are either adapted or discarded in the quest for self-discovery, part of the process of selecting and composing elements of a changing identity.
Edited by award-winning writer and scholar Sergio Troncoso, this anthology includes works from familiar and acclaimed voices such as David Dorado Romo, Sandra Cisneros, Alex Espinoza, Reyna Grande, and Francisco Cantú, as well as from important new voices, such as Stephanie Li, David Dominguez, and ire’ne lara silva. These are writers who open and expose the in-between places: through or at borders; among the past, present, and future; from tradition to innovation; between languages; in gender; about the wounds of the past and the victories of the present; of life and death.
Nepantla Familias shows the quintessential American experience that revives important foundational values through immigrants and the children of immigrants. Here readers will find a glimpse of contemporary Mexican American experience; here, also, readers will experience complexities of the geographic, linguistic, and cultural borders common to us all.
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.
262 pages, Hardcover
First published April 19, 2021
21 people are currently reading
375 people want to read
About the author
Sergio Troncoso
22 books111 followersSergio Troncoso is the author of Nobody's Pilgrims, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son, The Last Tortilla and Other Stories, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays, The Nature of Truth and From This Wicked Patch of Dust; and as editor, Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds and Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence.
He often writes about the United States-Mexico border, working-class immigrants, families and fatherhood, crossing cultural, psychological, and philosophical borders, and the border beyond the border.
Troncoso teaches at the Yale Writers’ Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut. A past president of the Texas Institute of Letters, he has also served as a judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the New Letters Literary Awards in the Essay category. His work has appeared in Pleiades, Texas Highways, CNN Opinion, Houston Chronicle, Other Voices, New Letters, Yale Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Texas Monthly.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Troncoso was born and grew up on the east side of El Paso, Texas in rural Ysleta. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received two graduate degrees in international relations and philosophy from Yale University.
A Fulbright scholar, Troncoso was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Alumni Hall of Fame, Texas Institute of Letters, and Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He was named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters, the first Mexican American writer to receive this distinction.
Among the numerous literary awards Troncoso has won are the Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story, Premio Aztlan Literary Prize, Gold Medal for Best Novel-Adventure or Drama from International Latino Book Awards, Bronze Award for Anthologies from Independent Publisher Book Awards, Gold Medal for Best Collection of Short Stories from International Latino Book Awards, Southwest Book Award, Bronze Award for Essays from ForeWord Reviews, and the Silver Award for Multicultural Adult Fiction from ForeWord Reviews.
The El Paso City Council voted unanimously to rename the public library branch in Ysleta as the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library.
His literary papers are archived at The Wittliff Collections in San Marcos, Texas.
Nobody's Pilgrims
"Eloquent, bold, and terrifying."
-Elizabeth Crook, author of The Which Way Tree
---------
Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds:
"A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity."
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
---------
A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son:
“It's his most powerful work yet, and an essential addition to the Latinx canon."
-The Texas Observer
---------
From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
“Troncoso’s novel is an engaging literary achievement.”
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
----------
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays:
“We owe it to ourselves to read, savor and read them again.”
-The El Paso Times
----------
The Nature of Truth:
“Impressively lucid.”
-The Chicago Tribune
----------
The Last Tortilla and Other Stories:
“Enthusiastically recommended.”
-Booklist
----------
Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence
“An eye-opening collection of essays.”
-Publishers Weekly
He often writes about the United States-Mexico border, working-class immigrants, families and fatherhood, crossing cultural, psychological, and philosophical borders, and the border beyond the border.
Troncoso teaches at the Yale Writers’ Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut. A past president of the Texas Institute of Letters, he has also served as a judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the New Letters Literary Awards in the Essay category. His work has appeared in Pleiades, Texas Highways, CNN Opinion, Houston Chronicle, Other Voices, New Letters, Yale Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Texas Monthly.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Troncoso was born and grew up on the east side of El Paso, Texas in rural Ysleta. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received two graduate degrees in international relations and philosophy from Yale University.
A Fulbright scholar, Troncoso was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Alumni Hall of Fame, Texas Institute of Letters, and Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He was named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters, the first Mexican American writer to receive this distinction.
Among the numerous literary awards Troncoso has won are the Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story, Premio Aztlan Literary Prize, Gold Medal for Best Novel-Adventure or Drama from International Latino Book Awards, Bronze Award for Anthologies from Independent Publisher Book Awards, Gold Medal for Best Collection of Short Stories from International Latino Book Awards, Southwest Book Award, Bronze Award for Essays from ForeWord Reviews, and the Silver Award for Multicultural Adult Fiction from ForeWord Reviews.
The El Paso City Council voted unanimously to rename the public library branch in Ysleta as the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library.
His literary papers are archived at The Wittliff Collections in San Marcos, Texas.
Nobody's Pilgrims
"Eloquent, bold, and terrifying."
-Elizabeth Crook, author of The Which Way Tree
---------
Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds:
"A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity."
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
---------
A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son:
“It's his most powerful work yet, and an essential addition to the Latinx canon."
-The Texas Observer
---------
From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
“Troncoso’s novel is an engaging literary achievement.”
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
----------
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays:
“We owe it to ourselves to read, savor and read them again.”
-The El Paso Times
----------
The Nature of Truth:
“Impressively lucid.”
-The Chicago Tribune
----------
The Last Tortilla and Other Stories:
“Enthusiastically recommended.”
-Booklist
----------
Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence
“An eye-opening collection of essays.”
-Publishers Weekly
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 23, 2022
Nepantla is a Nahuatl word which means "in the middle of it" or "middle." This means you straddle to worlds culturally.
This collection has essays, a few poems and short stories by Mexican-American authors both men and women and gay and straight. Many represented Texas or California (states that border Mexico).
I found the short stories section the strongest and most memorable. Stand outs:
"Dutiful Daughter" by Diana Lopez - short story about a girl trying to overcome the generational expectations of her parents and family. This feels like the story of myself and my students.
"Family Unit" by Ruben DeGollado - a couple dealing with loss.
"The Surprise Trancazo" by Helena Maria Viramontes - set in 1940's LA, this highlights how racism has stuck with Mexicans through the decades.
"Mujeres Matadas" by Daniel Chacon - a young girl in a death metal band shows a fifty year old man the beauty of letting go.
"The Astronaut" by Matt Mendez - a surviving twin tries to reunite with his dead brother.
Favorite quote: "After all, when ancestors fail to share their stories with us, we go looking for them nonetheless." from the essay "Calle Martin de Zavala" by Francisco Cantu
All and all, I'm glad I was introduced to new authors and poets, but I feel this was not as full as it could have been. Still, there is a lot of representation here from the Mexican community.
This collection has essays, a few poems and short stories by Mexican-American authors both men and women and gay and straight. Many represented Texas or California (states that border Mexico).
I found the short stories section the strongest and most memorable. Stand outs:
"Dutiful Daughter" by Diana Lopez - short story about a girl trying to overcome the generational expectations of her parents and family. This feels like the story of myself and my students.
"Family Unit" by Ruben DeGollado - a couple dealing with loss.
"The Surprise Trancazo" by Helena Maria Viramontes - set in 1940's LA, this highlights how racism has stuck with Mexicans through the decades.
"Mujeres Matadas" by Daniel Chacon - a young girl in a death metal band shows a fifty year old man the beauty of letting go.
"The Astronaut" by Matt Mendez - a surviving twin tries to reunite with his dead brother.
Favorite quote: "After all, when ancestors fail to share their stories with us, we go looking for them nonetheless." from the essay "Calle Martin de Zavala" by Francisco Cantu
All and all, I'm glad I was introduced to new authors and poets, but I feel this was not as full as it could have been. Still, there is a lot of representation here from the Mexican community.
July 26, 2021
To be clear, I have a story included in this anthology. But that is not why I am touting it so highly. I celebrate the stories, essays and poems in this book because they are soooo good. They give a vivid portrayal of the halfway lives we lead as Mexican-Americans of the border. The essays express so well the in-betweenness we cope with every day, thinking in Spanish, but speak English, placing our hands over our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance but committing our souls to mother Mexico. The stories depict the tug-of-war we feel in this country, the way we believe so fully in the American spirit and yet are somehow made to feel like aliens in our own land. It's also a celebration of the aesthetic that has been forged in the crucible of this Nepantla zone; it is evident in the rich poems of Octavio Quintanilla and the Sheryl Luna and Sandra Cisneros and in the stories of Daniel Chacón and iren'e lara silva and in the essays of David Dominguez and Reina Grande. What a quilt Sergio Troncoso has woven together from all these amazing writers. I'm honored to be among them.
June 14, 2021
Troncoso has put together an incredible anthology that perfectly captures the experience of living along the US-Mexico border. Through essays, poetry, and short fiction, the selected pieces take readers through the beauty and pain of existing between worlds, in the nepantla. As someone who grew up on the border, I saw myself on every page. I hope others will read this anthology and learn something about the border beyond what they see in the headlines and on cable news.
September 15, 2022
Breathtaking collection. Many immigrants and children of immigrants straddle a border of identities between native country and new country--especially when the new country is complicated like America and insists with melting-pot rhetoric on an assimilation of language and culture. Mexican American essayists, poets, and short story writers have offered us a collective survey of the constant negotiations of time, family, grief, love, separation, profiling, success, suffering--the experiences that make them both singularly Chicano/a and holistically human.
Readers will recognize names like Sandra Cisneros (and one cool thing about Sergio Troncoso's collection here is that most of the work has never appeared elsewhere) as well as be introduced to important voices that deserve a place on our bookshelves. I loved the unflinching portrayal of a multiracial woman trying to figure out how to grieve her father across countries and cultures in Stephanie Elizondo Griest's "Dia de Muertos." I smiled at the beautiful depictions of father and son in David Dominguez's "Elote Man," which humorously but shrewdly also implicated the micro-aggressive profiling of Latin American men. I held my breath reading the quiet suffering of young misunderstood men figuring out their sexuality and their relationships with family or schoolmates in Rigoberto Gonzalez's "The Wonder Woman T-Shirt" and Alex Espinoza's "In(toxic)ated Masculinity." Daniel Chacon's short story "Mujeres Matadas" about the underground death metal movement in a city known for rampant femicide is haunting. Ruben Degollado's poignant "Family Unit" is both delicate and heart-wrecking. I am thankful for Troncoso's work to curate such a worthy collection here.
Readers will recognize names like Sandra Cisneros (and one cool thing about Sergio Troncoso's collection here is that most of the work has never appeared elsewhere) as well as be introduced to important voices that deserve a place on our bookshelves. I loved the unflinching portrayal of a multiracial woman trying to figure out how to grieve her father across countries and cultures in Stephanie Elizondo Griest's "Dia de Muertos." I smiled at the beautiful depictions of father and son in David Dominguez's "Elote Man," which humorously but shrewdly also implicated the micro-aggressive profiling of Latin American men. I held my breath reading the quiet suffering of young misunderstood men figuring out their sexuality and their relationships with family or schoolmates in Rigoberto Gonzalez's "The Wonder Woman T-Shirt" and Alex Espinoza's "In(toxic)ated Masculinity." Daniel Chacon's short story "Mujeres Matadas" about the underground death metal movement in a city known for rampant femicide is haunting. Ruben Degollado's poignant "Family Unit" is both delicate and heart-wrecking. I am thankful for Troncoso's work to curate such a worthy collection here.
June 16, 2021
This is such a meaningful and engaging collection. Nepantla Familias is a fascinating exploration of the many different experiences that make up the Mexican-American community, and will resonate with anyone who has tried to find their place in the world.
I really enjoyed the variety of perspectives and genres in Nepantla Familias, which opened my eyes to some amazing authors across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Congratulations to the editor and authors on this exciting collection.
I really enjoyed the variety of perspectives and genres in Nepantla Familias, which opened my eyes to some amazing authors across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Congratulations to the editor and authors on this exciting collection.
May 15, 2024
As a Fronteriza born and raised, and now a mother raising a couple of new Fronterizos in the in-between worlds of Ciudad Juárez y El Paso Tx., this book highlighted so many of my everyday experiences growing up: my abuelitas, my brain in constant translation mode, los burritos, the everyday crossing of the International bridge, el bar Kentucky en la Avenida Juárez, the Memorial Park, the Star on the Franklin mountain, listening to cumbias, rancheras and then some oldies and hip hop.
To be honest, I don’t know if people that doesn’t experience this Nepantla, might perceive and be touched by these stories, but I for sure feel seen.
These authors are describing mi familia. And I never thought my experiences were book worthy, and now I’m so happy to find out that this Nepantla where we live in, where I’m raising my family, can inspire such beautiful storytelling.
Our stories our beautiful y también cuentan.
To be honest, I don’t know if people that doesn’t experience this Nepantla, might perceive and be touched by these stories, but I for sure feel seen.
These authors are describing mi familia. And I never thought my experiences were book worthy, and now I’m so happy to find out that this Nepantla where we live in, where I’m raising my family, can inspire such beautiful storytelling.
Our stories our beautiful y también cuentan.
February 23, 2025
My first word to describe this book is, wow. I am in awe about this book, because of the many heartfelt and heart-wrenching essays, poems, and short stories. Sergio Troncoso did an amazing job creating this book along with the amazing writers contributing their stories of being Mexican American. This book has opened my eyes and heart to Mexican immigrants and children of Mexican immigrants.
Two short stories that stood out to me is "Losing my Mother Tongue" by Reyna Grande and "The Wonder Woman T-Shirt" by Rigoberto González. As a third-generation immigrant, I have minimal knowledge of my culture's language. Therefore, I can empathize with Reyna Grande's frustration of losing your culture's language and feeling out of place. Rigoberto González's short story devastated me as he tells his story of figuring out his sexuality, his relationships with family, and forgiveness. Still, both stories convey that the chance to reclaim what was lost fills me with hope and contentment.
Ultimately, I recommend this book to those are interested in the many essays, poems, and short stories of Mexican American writers.
Two short stories that stood out to me is "Losing my Mother Tongue" by Reyna Grande and "The Wonder Woman T-Shirt" by Rigoberto González. As a third-generation immigrant, I have minimal knowledge of my culture's language. Therefore, I can empathize with Reyna Grande's frustration of losing your culture's language and feeling out of place. Rigoberto González's short story devastated me as he tells his story of figuring out his sexuality, his relationships with family, and forgiveness. Still, both stories convey that the chance to reclaim what was lost fills me with hope and contentment.
Ultimately, I recommend this book to those are interested in the many essays, poems, and short stories of Mexican American writers.
November 17, 2023
Rate essays 4/5 and poems 2/5. Read one short story and rate it 2/5.
March 14, 2025
very well curated. favorites were losing my mother tongue and mundo means world. only giving 4 based on personal preference alone, not quality.
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August 21, 2025This title is available as an eBook through McCain Library and can be accessed here: https://agnesscott.on.worldcat.org/oc...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews