Happy Tuesday, mis internet amigxs,

I'll admit, yesterday was one of the worst days I've had being a Latine creator online in a very long time. It was a day that made me want to turn off social media for good.

Between ignorant racists comparing Latine people to Frankenstein and then willfully not understanding disparities in publishing, it was both a day that made me come out of my multiple videos a day retirement AND a day that left me so exhausted, I wasn't sure I'd have the space to celebrate and attend an author event.

Much of the work I've always striven towards educating people on the latest in Latine literature, but it's obvious there are people committed to hating us--as if ICE raids and a president that started his campaign over a decade saying hateful things about Mexicans wasn't enough. Our Latine communities are scared for their lives. The snowball of racism and hatred has slid down the hill and is swallowing us whole.

All this just 3 weeks before Latine Heritage Month. It's agonizing, but we are resilient and I'm not going to let someone being loudly racist and wrong stop the celebration--whether it be this week's Latine releases or what I have planned beginning September 15th and beyond. I'll always be here cheering on Latine literature. Let the racists and the haters stay mad. I'll get louder to spite them.

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT

But I cannot do all this work alone. I wish I could say that my income had a semblance of consistency, but focusing on Latine literature while this administration issues executive order after executive order targeting our communities. Corporations falling into complicity and silence, meaning they are signaling that they'll once again not celebrate Latinx Heritage Month. Being loudly political online comes with financial consequences. Many brands want apolitical creators, which I'm clearly not. I recently turned down my biggest brand deal ever because their values do not align with mine (story time coming soon on that).

If you've been considering supporting me here on Bindery, now is a great time as we gear up towards Latinx Heritage Month. I have a few things planned I'm excited to announce.

But I also understand the economy we're in and don't behoove anyone who is a free subscriber. Your subscription, at whatever level, supports me and I'm so grateful for you all being here.

If you don't have the means to support, but are on either Tik Tok and on Facebook, I'm in both platforms creator funds. Meaning: your interaction and support on those platforms helps me financially every month (although I completely understand why you WOULDN'T be on either platform!).

I want to get to this week's releases, but quickly want to share a quick photo from last night's event at Tombolo Books that refilled my cup--I got to see Cuban American author/illustrator Andre Frattino in conversation with Jared Rosello discussing Frattino's We Are Pan, a graphic novel fictionalization of the Pedro Pan flights from Cuba in the early 1960's (I told you about it on release day, June 2nd).

Literary Fiction

Crocodopolis by John Manuel Arias (Audiobook)

Dey by Edwidge Dandicat (Audiobook)

Middle Grade

No Place On Earth by Andrea Beatriz Arango (Audiobook)

Sing Me A Story: Latine Short Stories in Verse by Latine Authors, edited by Aida Salazar (Audiobook)

Don't Wake Up by Cassandra Ramos-Gomez (Audiobook)

xo,

Carmen