University Libraries

By Ione Damasco

Each year, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the University of Dayton honors the diverse cultures and contributions of people whose roots trace back to Spain, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Nationally known as Hispanic Heritage Month, UD celebrates this month as Latinx Heritage Month. 

The University Libraries Diversity and Inclusion Team encourages deeper engagement with the diversity of Latinx Heritage with the books listed below, which showcase the vibrant diversity of the many cultural groups that make up Latinx communities while also highlighting their shared successes and struggles. Students, faculty and staff can access or borrow these titles from Roesch Library. Alumni and friends can find these titles at their local libraries. 

A library guide on Latinx Heritage Month also provides a starting point for understanding the complexity of Latinx identity.

Recommended reading

Fiction

How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories, by Daniel A. Olivas

• Daniel Olivas’ collection of short stories draws upon Chicano and Mexican culture to explore questions of morality, justice and self-determination through literary approaches such as magical realism, fairy tales and dystopian fiction.

How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, by Rachel Vasquez Gilliland

• This young adult novel won the 2022 Pura Belpré Award. It focuses on a Mexican American teen named Moon Fuentez. As she spends the summer on a cross-country road trip, she discovers love and learns profound lessons about the universe.

Monkey Boy: A Novel, by Francisco Goldman (request from OhioLINK)

• In this novel, a middle-aged writer named Francisco Goldberg deals with the challenges of family, love, legacies of violence and war, and growing up Guatemalan and Jewish in the United States.

Nonfiction

Latinx Studies: The Key Concepts, by Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González

• This encyclopedic work serves as an accessible guide to the central concepts and issues that inform Latinx studies globally. 

Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity, by Paola Ramos

• Journalist and activist Paola Ramos travels across the United States, seeking out communities defining the term “Latinx.” She introduces a diverse group of people all claiming the Latinx identity: Indigenous groups rebuilding post-industrial communities; reproductive rights activists; farmworkers; drag performers; environmental activists; migrants detained at the border; and musicians.

Solito: a Memoir, by Javier Zamora

• Poet Javier Zamora shares his harrowing experiences of emigrating at 9 years old from El Salvador to the United States in this award-winning autobiographical account of finding family and hope through challenging times.

— Ione Damasco is a professor in the University Libraries and associate dean for inclusive excellence and organizational development.