La Comunidad Reads with Lupita Aquino and El Gran Combo: Angie Cruz, Caro De Robertis, Lilliam Rivera, and Jaquira Díaz *IN-PERSON*

Authors and core members of El Gran Combo Angie Cruz, Caro De Robertis, Lilliam Rivera, and Jaquira Díaz join Lupita Aquino - better known as Lupita.Reads - to discuss their writing, their community, and how to sustain both for years to come. Lupita Aquino invites you to join her new book club, La Comunidad Reads, an author-inclusive club that aims to build a space where Latine-authored books are magnified for all readers! Loyalty is super psyched to be the bookstore partner for this exciting new book club series with DCPL, Lupita Aquino, and the DC Public Library Foundation! **This event is free to attend, but registration is encouraged—please register on DCPL's website.** You can purchase the book from Loyalty below or borrow a copy from DCPL, and we will have additional copies for sale at the event. Please email events@loyaltybookstores.com with any questions.

For this meeting of the La Comunidad Reads Book Club, Lupita sits down with short story author Alejandro Varela to talk about his newest collection of short stories The People Who Report More Stress. The interconnected stories use humor to address the impact of microaggressions, racism and social stress factors on people of color. This chronic stress can take a toll on your physical and mental health and the best antidote is community and solidarity.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Angie Cruz is a novelist and editor. Her most recent novel How Not To Drown in A Glass of Water (2022) is a finalist for the 2024 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, shortlisted for The Aspen Words Literary Prize, winner of the Gold Medal, Latino Book Award/The Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Book Award, longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize and chosen for The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022 and The Washington Post 50 Notable Works of Fiction. Her novel, Dominicana was the inaugural book pick for GMA book club and shortlisted for The Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction, a RUSA Notable book and the winner of the ALA/YALSA Alex Award in fiction. It was named most anticipated/ best book in 2019 by Time, Newsweek, People, Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Esquire. Cruz is the author of two other novels, Soledad and Let It Rain Coffee and the recipient of numerous fellowships and residencies including the Lighthouse Fellowship, Siena Art Institute, and the Macdowell Arts Colony. She’s published shorter works in The Paris Review, VQR, Callaloo, Gulf Coast and other journals. She's the founder and Editor-in-chief of the award winning literary journal, Aster(ix) and is currently an Associate Professor at University of Pittsburgh. She divides her time between Pittsburgh, New York and Turin.

A writer of Uruguayan origins, Caro De Robertis is the author of the forthcoming novel The Palace of Eros, as well as The President and the Frog, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; Cantoras, winner of a Stonewall Book Award and a Reading Women Award, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and a Lambda Literary Award, and a New York Times Editors’ Choice; The Gods of Tango, winner of a Stonewall Book Award; Perla; and the international bestseller The Invisible Mountain, which received Italy’s Rhegium Julii Prize. Their books have been translated into seventeen languages and have received numerous other honors, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature.

Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning author of the young adult novels Never Look Back, a Pura Belpré Honor winner, Dealing In Dreams, The Education of Margot Sanchez, as well as the Goldie Vance series for middle grade readers, and the stand-alone middle grade novel Barely Floating. Her latest works include a young adult science fiction novel, We Light Up the Sky, for Bloomsbury and a graphic novel for DC Comics, Unearthed: A Jessica Cruz Story, both named “Best Books of 2021” by Kirkus Review and School Library Journal.

Born in Puerto Rico, Jaquira Díaz was raised between Humacao, Fajardo, and Miami Beach. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize. Ordinary Girls was optioned for television and is currently in development at FX with Díaz as Co-Executive Producer.

ABOUT LUPITA READS

Lupita Aquino—better known as Lupita Reads—is a passionate literary enthusiast amplifying and highlighting books through Instagram and TikTok. When she’s not reading, you can catch her occasionally writing about books for Today.com, She Reads dot com, and for her substack, where she spotlights Latine authors and their books on a weekly basis. She lives in the greater Washington DC area and enjoys visiting the local bookstores with her family on the weekend.

Please note Loyalty has a zero tolerance policy for harassment or intimidation of any kind during virtual or in-person events.