LibGuides: IDEAS Resources: Heritage & Identity Months

Library Displays

Tredway Library typically exhibits at least one book and resource display each month. These displays tend to coincide with national heritage and identity months, and the library's outreach team often collaborates with relevant student organizations and campus offices in the selection of materials for these displays. On this page, you can find information about the library's heritage & identity month displays, as well as information about related events on campus.

October: LGBTQIA2+ History Month

Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam
Call Number: HQ18.55 .H49 2022

Publication Date: 2022-09-13

Today's narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people's lives. Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance.
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman
Call Number: HQ75.6.U5 F33 1991

Publication Date: 2012-02-21

As Lillian Faderman writes, there are "no constants with regard to lesbianism," except that lesbians prefer women. In this groundbreaking book, she reclaims the history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America, tracing the evolution of lesbian identity and subcultures from early networks to more recent diverse lifestyles. She draws from journals, unpublished manuscripts, songs, media accounts, novels, medical literature, pop culture artifacts, and oral histories by lesbians of all ages and backgrounds, uncovering a narrative of uncommon depth and originality.
Queer: a Graphic History by Meg John Barker; Jules Scheele (Illustrator)
Call Number: eBook & HQ76.25 .B37 2016

Publication Date: 2016-11-15

'Queer: A Graphic History Could Totally Change the Way You Think About Sex and Gender' Vice Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Jules Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel. From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged. Along the way we look at key landmarks which shift our perspective of what's 'normal' - Alfred Kinsey's view of sexuality as a spectrum, Judith Butler's view of gendered behaviour as a performance, the play Wicked, or moments in Casino Royale when we're invited to view James Bond with the kind of desiring gaze usually directed at female bodies in mainstream media.
Black Boy Out of Time by Hari Ziyad
Call Number: HQ76.27.A37 Z59 2021

Publication Date: 2021-03-01

An eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way. One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare; a mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad's vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.
Queer Legacies by John D'Emilio
Call Number: HQ76.3.U52 I444 2020

Publication Date: 2020-10-28

The variety of LGBTQ life in Chicago is too abundant and too diverse to be contained in a single place. But since 1981, the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives has striven to do just that, amassing a wealth of records related to the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified people and organizations. In Queer Legacies, John D'Emilio--a pioneering scholar in the field--digs deep into Gerber/Hart's collection to unearth a kaleidoscopic look at the communities built by generations of LGBTQ people. Excavated from one of the country's most important, yet overlooked, LGBTQ archives, D'Emilio's entertaining and enthusiastic essays range in focus from politics and culture to social life, academia, and religion. He gives readers an inclusive and personal look at fifty years of a national fight for visibility, recognition, and equality led by LGBTQ Americans who, quite literally, made history. In these troubled times, it will surely inspire a new generation of scholars and activists.
The Stonewall Reader by New York Public Library (Editor); Edmund White (Foreword by); Jason Baumann (Editor, Introduction by)
Call Number: HQ76.8.U5 S77 2019

Publication Date: 2019-04-30

For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and the activists who spearheaded it, with a foreword by Edmund White. June 28, 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library's archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s. The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Jason Baumann, the NYPL coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume to coincide with the NYPL exhibition he has curated on the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation movement of 1969.
Revolution Is Love: a Year of Black Trans Liberation by Qween Jean (Text by, Interviewee); Joela Rivera (Text by); Mikelle Street (Text by); Raquel Willis (Interviewer)
Call Number: HQ76.8.U6 J43 2022

Publication Date: 2022-10-25

Revolution Is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation is the powerful and celebratory visual record of a contemporary activist movement in New York City, and a moving testament to the enduring power of photography in activism, advocacy, and community. In June 2020, after a Black trans woman in Missouri and a Black trans man in Florida were killed just weeks apart, activists Qween Jean and Joela Rivera returned to the historic Stonewall Inn--site of the 1969 riots that launched the modern gay rights movement--where they initiated weekly actions known thereafter as the Stonewall Protests. Brought together by the urgent need to center Black trans and queer lives within the Black Lives Matter movement, a vibrant and radical community emerged. Over the following year, the Stonewall Protests brought together thousands of people across communities and social movements to gather in solidarity, resistance, and communion. Each Thursday was an invitation for protests, healing, and celebration--whether through marches, voguing balls, or vigil--and a living testament to love in revolution. This book gathers twenty-four photographers who participated in these actions to share images and words on the demonstrations and their community at large, preserving this legacy as it unfolded. Through photographs, interviews, and text, Revolution Is Love celebrates the power of shared joy and struggle in trans community and liberation. Featuring images and text by Ramie Ahmed, Lucy Baptiste, Budi, Brandon English, Deb Fong, Snake Garcia, Stas Ginzburg, Katie Godowski, Robert Hamada, Chae Kihn, Zak Krevitt, Erica Lansner, Daniel Lehrhaupt, Caroline Mardok, Ryan McGinley, Josh Pacheco, Jarrett Robertson, Phoenix Robles, Souls of a Movement, Madison Swart, Cindy Trinh, Sean Waltrous, Ruvan Wijesooriya, and David Zung
Trans Figured by Sophie Grace Chappell
Call Number: HQ77.9.C53 T73 2024

Publication Date: 2024-06-25

'I was four and three-quarters when I asked my mother if, from now on, I could please go to school as a girl instead of as a boy ...' In this extraordinary new book, renowned philosopher Sophie Grace Chappell combines personal memoir, philosophical reflection, open letters, science fiction writing, and poetry to help us all figure out transgender. What is it really like to be transgender? How can we as a society do better to accept the reality of trans lives and to welcome and include trans adults, trans children, and trans families? How can trans people thrive in a cisgendered world? For too long now, clouds of myth, misinformation, alarmism, and wrong-headed ideology have masked the reality of trans people's lives. By answering questions like these, this book blows away the clouds and gives us the truth instead. Rich, informative, and deeply moving. Trans Figured will be widely read and celebrated for years to come.
The Myth of the Wrong Body by Miquel Misse; Frances Riddle (Translator)
Call Number: HQ77.9 .M56513 2022

Publication Date: 2022-08-29

The most popular narrative about transsexuality suggests that some people are born in the wrong body - that their bodies do not correspond to their inner experience and that their bodies should therefore be transformed. But in the view of the sociologist and trans activist Miguel Missé, this narrative is a harmful myth. It is rooted in a medical paradigm that typically leads to medical intervention - to the use of hormones and surgical operations. By proposing a particular solution (modifying one's body), doctors and psychiatrists make it difficult for trans people to overcome malaise about their body in other ways and prevent them from recognizing the burden of social norms. Drawing on his own personal experience, Missé makes the case for a different way of thinking about trans embodiment which focuses on gender identity. The trajectory that leads people to become trans is shaped by the rigidity of gender norms, where the only two models available to individuals are the masculine man and the feminine woman. But these are not the only possible choices, and by critically interrogating the rigidity of gender norms, Missé opens up a different way of thinking about being trans, beyond the essentialism of the medical paradigm.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Call Number: PR6073.I558 O7 1997b or eBook

Publication Date: 1997-08-20

"To read Jeanette Winterson is to love her."--O, the Oprah Magazine A beloved contemporary feminist classic and pioneering work of autofiction--a funny, poignant exploration of a young girl's quirky passage into adulthood Jeanette Winterson's extraordinary career began at the age of twenty-five with the publication of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. An international bestseller and winner of the prestigious Whitbread Award for Best First Fiction, it is considered a classic of contemporary literature and taught widely around the world, in courses ranging from core undergraduate classes to women's studies and queer studies. Jeanette is a bright and rebellious orphan who is adopted into an evangelical household in the dour, industrial north of England. Her youth is spent embroidering grim religious mottoes and shaking her little tambourine for Jesus. But as this budding missionary comes of age and comes to terms with her unorthodox sexuality, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household collapses. Jeanette's insistence on listening to truths of her own heart and mind--and on reporting them with wit and passion--makes for an unforgettable chronicle of an extraordinary passage into adulthood.
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Call Number: PR6113.E54 R35 2020

Publication Date: 2022-05-31

Nominated for a 34th annual Lambda Literary Award * An essential and revelatory coming-of-age novel from a thrilling new voice, Rainbow Milk follows nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah's Witness upbringing. In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso has immigrated to Britain from Jamaica with his wife and children in order to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community, and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds himself at a loss for a new center of gravity and turns to sex work, music, and art to create his own notions of love, masculinity, and spirituality. A wholly original novel as tender as it is visceral, Rainbow Milk is a bold reckoning with race, class, sexuality, freedom, and religion across generations, time, and cultures.
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Call Number: PS3552.R698 R8 1983

Publication Date: 2015-06-23

A landmark coming-of-age novel that launched the career of one of this country's most distinctive voices, Rubyfruit Jungle remains a transformative work more than forty years after its original publication. In bawdy, moving prose, Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path in America. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes-and she refuses to apologize for loving them back. This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after.
Loveless by Alice Oseman
Call Number: PS3615.S46L682020

Publication Date: 2022-02-22

Georgia has never kissed anybody. She has never been in love and she does not know why. As a devotee to fanfiction, she is sure this will soon change. Once she starts college, she is bound to find love. Something does not add up. The more she tries, the more confused she gets.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger; Rovina Cai (Illustrator)
Call Number: PS3612.I87677E43 2023

Publication Date: 2023-10-31

One of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time -- Now in Paperback! A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer. Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered. Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and its dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started? The breathtaking debut novel from Darcie Little Badger features an asexual, Apache teen protagonist--and combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, and fantasy elements, in one of the most-talked-about books in years.
Not a Day Goes By by E. Lynn Harris
Call Number: PS3558.A64438 N68 2000

Publication Date: 2004-02-10

John "Basil" Henderson has always played the field, both as a professional football player and as an equal opportunity lover. After retiring his jersey for a career as a sports agent, the dashing playboy is surprising everyone--including himself--by deciding to settle down and commit to his new love, Yancey Harrington Braxton. A fiercely driven Broadway star on the rise, blessed with beauty, charm, and a fondness for the finer things in life, she appears to be his ideal mate. A lavish wedding is planned, but just before the nuptials, fate and a little comeuppance threaten the happy couple's future. Charged with narrative exuberance and sumptuous detail, Not a Day Goes By proves that nobody spins a sexy urban love story like E. Lynn Harris.
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
Call Number: PS3618.O8323 C66 2018

Publication Date: 2019-03-05

Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess were the most notorious thieves, jailbreakers, and lovers of eighteenth-century London. Yet no one knows the true story; their confessions have never been found. Until now. Reeling from heartbreak, a scholar named Dr. Voth discovers a long-lost manuscript--a gender-defying exposé of Jack and Bess's adventures. Is Confessions of the Fox an authentic autobiography or a hoax? As Dr. Voth is drawn deeper into Jack and Bess's tale of underworld resistance and gender transformation, it becomes clear that their fates are intertwined--and only a miracle will save them all.

October is recognized as LGBTQ+ History Month, a time to celebrate and raise awareness about influential figures who have played pivotal roles in advancing visibility and equality for the LGBTQ+ community. The celebration during this month was initiated by Rodney Wilson, a high school teacher in Missouri, who believed in the importance of teaching students about LGBTQ+ history.

Beyond celebrating the contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals, this month also highlights LGBTQ+ icons from around the world. In 2009, President Barack Obama officially declared October as LGBTQ+ History Month.

We encourage you to take this opportunity to learn more about lesser-known LGBTQ+ icons and the significant impact of their contributions to society.

LGBTQ+ Resources at Augustana College

Sam Wright (They/Them) - Assistant Director and LGBTQ+ Coordinator samwright@augustana.edu
Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA)
Preferred Name, Gender Identity & Pronoun Policies
Gender-Affirming Voice and Communication Services
Gender-Inclusive Restrooms
All-Gender Community
LGBTQIA+ Career Readiness
LGBTQ employee resource group

LGBTQ+ Local Resources

LGBTQ+ National Resources

October: Hindu Heritage Month

The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Volume 1 by Eknath Easwaran
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2020-11-10

A comprehensive manual for living a spiritual life, based on a verse-by-verse commentary on India's timeless scripture - from the author of its best-selling translation. The Bhagavad Gita is set on the battlefield of an apocalyptic war between good and evil. Faced with a dire moral dilemma, the warrior prince Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, for answers to the fundamental questions of life. Easwaran points out that Arjuna's crisis is acutely modern. The Gita's battlefield is the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage. Arjuna represents each of us, and Sri Krishna is the Lord, instructing us in eighteen chapters of lofty wisdom as we face the social, environmental, and global challenges that threaten our world today. Easwaran is a spiritual teacher and author of deep insight and warmth. His verse-by-verse commentary interprets the Gita's teachings for modern readers, explaining the Sanskrit concepts and philosophy and applying them with practicality, wisdom, and humor to every aspect of our work, our relationships, and our lives. With everyday anecdotes, stories, and examples, he shows that the changes we long to see in the world start with the transformation of our own consciousness. The practical exercises recommended by Easwaran to achieve transformation are part of a spiritual program he developed for his own life. They are accessible to people from all backgrounds and cultures. Urging us to adopt a higher image of the human being, he assures us that peace and unity are within reach.
Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities by Pankaj Jain
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2011-05-28

In Indic religious traditions, a number of rituals and myths exist in which the environment is revered. Despite this nature worship in India, its natural resources are under heavy pressure with its growing economy and exploding population. This has led several scholars to raise questions about the role religious communities can play in environmentalism. Does nature worship inspire Hindus to act in an environmentally conscious way? This book explores the above questions with three communities, the Swadhyaya movement, the Bishnoi, and the Bhil communities. Presenting the texts of Bishnois, their environmental history, and their contemporary activism; investigating the Swadhyaya movement from an ecological perspective; and exploring the Bhil communities and their Sacred Groves, this book applies a non-Western hermeneutical model to interpret the religious traditions of Indic communities. With a foreword by Roger S Gottlieb.
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Call Number: RC275 .M85 2011

Publication Date: 2012-04-06

A New York Times Bestseller, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize -- Here is a magnificent, profoundly humane "biography" of cancer -- from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist's precision, a historian's perspective, and a biographer's passion.
A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India by A. K. Ramanujan; Stuart Blackburn (Editor); Alan Dundes (Editor)
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2023-11-15

This book of oral tales from the south Indian region of Kannada represents the culmination of a lifetime of research by A. K. Ramanujan, one of the most revered scholars and writers of his time. The result of over three decades' labor, this long-awaited collection makes available for the first time a wealth of folktales from a region that has not yet been adequately represented in world literature. Ramanujan's skill as a translator, his graceful writing style, and his profound love and understanding of the subject enrich the tales that he collected, translated, and interpreted. With a written literature recorded from about 800 A.D., Kannada is rich in mythology, devotional and secular poetry, and more recently novels and plays. Ramanujan, born in Mysore in 1929, had an intimate knowledge of the language. In the 1950s, when working as a college lecturer, he began collecting these tales from everyone he could--servants, aunts, schoolteachers, children, carpenters, tailors. In 1970 he began translating and interpreting the tales, a project that absorbed him for the next three decades. When Ramanujan died in 1993, the translations were complete and he had written notes for about half of the tales. With its unsentimental sympathies, its laughter, and its delightfully vivid sense of detail, the collection stands as a significant and moving monument to Ramanujan's memory as a scholar and writer. This book of oral tales from the south Indian region of Kannada represents the culmination of a lifetime of research by A. K. Ramanujan, one of the most revered scholars and writers of his time.
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2007

In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas lives an embittered judge who wants only to retire in peace, when his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, arrives on his doorstep. The judge’s cook watches over her distractedly, for his thoughts are often on his son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one gritty New York restaurant to another. Kiran Desai’s brilliant novel, published to huge acclaim, is a story of joy and despair. Her characters face numerous choices that majestically illuminate the consequences of colonialism as it collides with the modern world.
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Call Number: PS3562.A316 L69 2013

Publication Date: 2013-09-24

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author of The Namesake comes an extraordinary new novel, set in both India and America, that expands the scope and range of one of our most dazzling storytellers: a tale of two brothers bound by tragedy, a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her past, a country torn by revolution, and a love that lasts long past death. Born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan Mitra are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead. It is the 1960s, and Udayan--charismatic and impulsive--finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty; he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he goes back to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind--including those seared in the heart of his brother's wife.
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Call Number: PS3554.I86 M47 1998

Publication Date: 1997-02-17

The Mistress of Spices is a mystical tale told by Tilo, a young Indian woman in an old woman's body who has been trained in the secret powers of spices. Her special knowledge leads her to Oakland, California where she uses it to help the local Indian community by opening a spice shop from which she administers spices as curatives. Tilo can see into people's hearts and minds but it is a mistress's duty to keep herself at a distance, "not too far nor too near, in calm kindness poised." However, Tilo is unable to obey her charge, and she becomes emotionally involved with her customers as they struggle with the demands of their families, the clash of the old way versus the American way, racism, abusive husbands-all of the complexities of living in the modern world. It is also her duty to limit her involvement to the Indian community. But Tilo finds herself mysteriously drawn to an American man named Raven, whose innermost thoughts she cannot read. Her complex and passionate relationships with her customers and Raven are in violation of her spice mistress vows, and so she finds herself forced to choose between the magical of an immortal and the vicissitudes of life in the real world. Vibrant, vivacious, headstrong and daring, Tilo is unforgettable and so is her story.
Rabindranath Tagore's Drama in the Perspective of Indian Theatre by Mala Renganathan (Editor); Arnab Bhattacharya (Editor)
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2020-08-03

'Rabindranath Tagore's Drama in the Perspective of Indian Theatre' maps Tagore's place in the Indian dramatic/performance traditions by examining unexplored critical perspectives on his drama such as his texts as performance texts; their exploration in multimedia; reflections of Indian culture in his plays; comparison with playwrights; theatrical links to his world of music and performance genres; his plays in the context of cross-cultural, intercultural theatre; the playwright as a poet-performer-composer and their interconnections and his drama on the Indian stage.

Hindu Heritage Month, or Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month, has been observed in October to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans with Hindu heritage. The Hindu American Foundation began efforts in 2013 to recognize the celebration in October. The month is significant because October is often when major Hindu holidays such as Navaratri and Diwali are celebrated and is the birth month of Mahatma Gandhi.

To learn more about Hindu Heritage Month use the following resources:

Hindu American Foundation: Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month

Augustana College and Local Resources:

Office of International Student and Scholar Services
Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity
Nepali Student Association
Global Engagement Team
Quad Cities Hindu Temple

September 15 - October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month

American Like Me by America Ferrera
Call Number: E 184.A1 A63625 2018

Publication Date: 2018

From award-winning actress and political activist America Ferrera comes a vibrant and varied collection of first-person accounts from prominent figures about the experience of growing up between cultures.
Daytripper by Gabriel Ba; Fabio Moon
Call Number: PN 6790.B73 M66 2011 (Graphic Novels)

Publication Date: 2011

The acclaimed Daytripper follows Bras de Olivias Dominguez during different periods in his life, each with the same ending- his death. Daytripperfollows the life of one man, Bras de Olivias Dominguez. Every chapter features an important period in Bras' life in exotic Brazil, and each story ends the same way- with his death. And then, the following story starts up at a different point in his life, oblivious to his death in the previous issue-and then also ends with him dying again. In every chapter, Bras dies at different moments in his life, as the story follows him through his entire existence-one filled with possibilities of happiness and sorrow, good and bad, love and loneliness. Each issue rediscovers the many varieties of daily life, in a story about living life to its fullest-because any of us can die at any moment. Poignant, heartfelt and thoughtful, this comics landmark is one of the most transcendent pieces of graphic storytelling ever to hit the printed page. Brothers Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba truly compose one of the industry's masterworks.
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Call Number: PS 3603.R89 D66 2020

Publication Date: 2020

"The book tells the story of Ana, a young woman from the Dominican Republic who moves to New York in 1965 after marrying an older man, Juan. She is unhappy there, but sees a new side of life when her husband temporarily returns to the Dominican Republic leaving her in the care of his younger brother, Cesar: she can study English, go to the beach, and go dancing. When Juan returns, she has a decision to make."
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García
Call Number: PS 3513.A587 H43 1992

Publication Date: 1992

Cristina García's acclaimed book is the haunting, bittersweet story of a family experiencing a country's revolution and the revelations that follow. The lives of Celia del Pino and her husband, daughters, and grandchildren mirror the magical realism of Cuba itself, a landscape of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption.
Every Day We Get More Illegal by Juan Felipe Herrera
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2020

In this collection of poems, written during and immediately after two years on the road as United States Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera reports back on his travels through contemporary America. Poems written in the heat of witness, and later, in quiet moments of reflection, coalesce into an urgent, trenchant, and yet hope-filled portrait. The struggle and pain of those pushed to the edges, the shootings and assaults and injustices of our streets, the lethal border game that separates and divides, and then: a shift of register, a leap for peace and a view onto the possibility of unity.
Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli; Christina MacSweeney (Translator)
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2014

In Mexico City, a young mother is writing a novel of her days as a translator living in New York. In Harlem, a translator is desperate to publish the works of Gilberto Owen, an obscure Mexican poet. And in Philadelphia, Gilberto Owen recalls his friendship with Lorca, and the young woman he saw in the windows of passing trains. Valeria Luiselli's debut signals the arrival of a major international writer and an unexpected and necessary voice in contemporary fiction.
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
Publication Date: 2023

From National Book Award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes the story of one Dominican American family told through the voices of its women.
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Call Number: PR 9199.4.M656174 G63 2020

Publication Date: 2020

"The Mayan God of Death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore. The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather's house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather's room. She opens it--and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea's demise, but success could make her dreams come true. In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City--and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld."
The Hazards of Love Book One by Stan Stanley
Call Number: PN 6727.S6565 H39 2021 (Graphic Novels)

Publication Date: 2021

The Hazards of Love follows the story of a queer teen from Queens who makes some mistakes, gets dragged into a fantastical place, and tries to hustle their way back home. Amparo's deal with the talking cat was simple: a drop of blood and Amparo's name to become a better person. Their mother and abuela would never worry about them again, and they'd finally be worthy of dating straight-A student Iolanthe. But when the cat steals their body, becoming the better person they were promised, Amparo's spirit is imprisoned in a land of terrifying, flesh-hungry creatures known as Bright World. With cruel and manipulative masters and a society that feeds on memories, Amparo must use their cleverness to escape, without turning into a monster like the rest. On "the other side," Iolanthe begins to suspect the new Amparo has a secret, and after the cat in disguise vanishes, she's left searching for answers with a no-nonsense medium from the lesbian mafia and the only person who might know the truth about Bright World.
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector; Giovanni Pontiero (Translator)
Call Number: PQ 9697.L5 H68 1992

Publication Date: 1992

Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates. Living in the slums of Rio and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macabéa loves movies, Coca-Colas, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she is ugly, underfed, sickly and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid the realization that for all her outward misery, Macabéa is inwardly free/She doesn't seem to know how unhappy she should be. Lispector employs her pathetic heroine against her urbane, empty narrator--edge of despair to edge of despair--and, working them like a pair of scissors, she cuts away the reader's preconceived notions about poverty, identity, love and the art of fiction. In her last book she takes readers close to the true mystery of life and leave us deep in Lispector territory indeed.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende; Magda Bogin (Translator)
Call Number: PQ 8098.1.L54 C313 1986

Publication Date: 1986

Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Call Number: PS 3553.I78 H6 1991

Publication Date: 1991

The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of vignettes-sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous-Sandra Cisneros' masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
Call Number: PS 3619.A517 I22 2019

Publication Date: 2019

YA novel about a teenager coming to terms with losing her sister and finding herself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. "Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed. But it's not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister's story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?"
Inventing Latinos by Laura E. Gómez
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2020

“Inventing Latinos offers a unique road map for understanding how Latino identity came to be, and where it might be going. Gómez's discussion of how Latin America's mestizaje, or mixed-race ideology, is both perpetuated and sometimes re-purposed in the U.S. is one of the book's many strengths.”
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera; Celia Moscote (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN 6727.R5624 J85 2020 (Graphic Novels)

Publication Date: 2020

Critically-acclaimed writer Gabby Rivera adapts her bestselling novel alongside artist Celia Moscote in an unforgettable queer coming-of-age story exploring race, identity and what it means to be true to your amazing self. Even when the rest of the world doesn't understand.
Make Your Home among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
Call Number: PS 3603.R83 M35 2016

Publication Date: 2016

When Lizet-the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the first in her family to graduate from high school-secretly applies and is accepted to an ultra-elite college, her parents are furious at her decision to leave Miami. Just weeks before she's set to start school, her parents divorce and her father sells her childhood home, leaving Lizet, her mother, and Leidy-Lizet's older sister, a brand-new single mom-without a steady income and scrambling for a place to live. Pulled between life at college and the needs of those she loves, Lizet is faced with difficult decisions that will change her life forever. Urgent and mordantly funny, Make Your Home Among Strangers tells the moving story of a young woman torn between generational, cultural, and political forces; it's the new story of what it means to be American today.
My Broken Language by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Call Number: PS 3608.U3234 Z46 2021

Publication Date: 2021

Quiara Alegria Hudes was the sharp-eyed girl on the stairs while her family danced in her grandmother's tight South Philly kitchen, "frizzy hair cut short, bangs teased into stiff clouds, sweat glistening in the summer fog, pamper-butt babies weaving between legs." Quiara was awed by her aunts and uncles and cousins, but haunted by the secrets of the family and the unspoken stories of the barrio -- even as she tried to find her own voice in the sea of language around her, written and spoken, English and Spanish, bodies and books, Western art and sacred altars. Her family became her private pantheon, a gathering of powerful orishas with tragic wounds and she vowed to tell their stories--but first she'd have to get off the stairs and join the dance; she'd have to find her language. This is an inspired exploration of home, family, memory, and belonging, narrated by the obsessed girl who fought to become an artist so she could capture the world she loved in all its wild and delicate beauty.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez, Gabriel; Gregory Rabassa (Illustrator, Translator)
Call Number: PQ 8180.17.A73 O5

Publication Date: 1970

The rise and fall, birth and death, of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. A classic of world literature for all time--and probably Marquez's most famous work.
Onion Skin by Edgar Camacho
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2021

Discover a bright new star of Mexican comics in this romantic and thrilling tale, stuffed with adventure and delicious food. Rolando's job was crushing him… and then it literally crushed his hand. Now he can barely get out of the house, binging TV and struggling to find meaning. On a rare night out with friends, he meets Nera, a woman who lives only in the moment. Dazzled by her hedonistic attitude, Rolando sees a new life opening before him. Together, these restless youths fix up an old food truck and hit the road for a wild journey. But have they truly found the spice of life? Or has Rolando bitten off more than he can chew? Onion Skin, winner of Mexico's first ever National Young Graphic Novel Award, became a sensation in its native land for its rich narrative, captivating characters, thrilling action, and positively delicious artwork. It's a feast that will leave readers eager for a second course.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Call Number: PZ 7.A17 P64 2018

Publication Date: 2020

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, Xiomara Batista has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. She pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers--especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. Mami is determined to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, and Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. When she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she can't stop thinking about performing her poems.
Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2019

Kali Fajardo-Anstine's magnetic story collection breathes life into her Indigenous Latina characters and the land they inhabit. Set against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado-a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite-these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives- with caution, grace, and quiet force. In "Sugar Babies," ancestry and heritage are hidden inside the earth, but have the tendency to ascend during land disputes. "Any Further West" follows a sex worker and her daughter as they leave their ancestral home in southern Colorado only to find a foreign and hostile land in California. In "Tomi," a woman returns home from prison, finding herself in a gentrified city that is a shadow of the one she remembers from her childhood. And in the title story, "Sabrina & Corina," a Denver family falls into a cycle of violence against women, coming together only through ritual.
Solito: a memoir by Javier Zamora
Call Number: HV 640.5.S24 Z366 2022

Publication Date: 2022

The memoir tells a story of a nine-year-old boy on his journey from a small town in El Salvador to the United States to reunite with his parents.
Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli
Call Number: JV 6600 .L85 2017

Publication Date: 2017

Structured around the forty questions Luiselli translates and asks undocumented Latin American children facing deportation, Tell Me How It Ends humanizes these young migrants and highlights the contradiction between the idea of America as a fiction for immigrants and the reality of racism and fear—both here and back home.
Unearthed by Brandon Terrell; Benny Fuentes (Cover Design by); Wilson Tortosa (Illustrator)
Call Number: eBook

Publication Date: 2013

Omar convinces Eldrick Otus to let him lead the Revolution on a trip to recover a Fragment in Egypt. When they discover the Fragment is resting deep within a forgotten pyramid, Omar sends his two best climbers after it. The Collective, led by Elliot Addison, causes the pyramid's entrance to collapse. The teens must work together to retrieve the Fragment and find a way out...before the pyramid becomes their crypt!

National Hispanic & Latine Heritage Month is observed in the United States each year from September 15 to October 15, celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans with ancestry from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. This celebration originated in 1968 when Congress established National Hispanic Heritage Week, selecting the week of September 15 and 16 to honor the diverse cultures within the Hispanic and Latine community. These dates were chosen to commemorate significant historical milestones, including the Independence Day of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, as well as Mexico's Independence Day.

In 1988, the observance was extended to cover a full month, encompassing events such as El Día de la Raza on October 12, which celebrates the cultural and ethnic diversity that emerged after Christopher Columbus’s arrival. The month also includes Chile's Independence Day on September 18 (El Dieciocho) and Belize's Independence Day on September 21.

Since 1989, U.S. Presidents have issued annual Presidential Proclamations to officially recognize and celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month.

To learn more about National Hispanic Heritage Month use the following resources:

Augustana College and Local Resources:

Augustana College Latinx Unidos
Augustana College Casa Latina
Augustana College Hispanic-Latine Employee Resource Group
Greater Quad City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Quad Cities Regional LIDERAMOS Leadership Development Program
Palomares Social Justice Center
Mercado on Fifth