Rigoberto GonzĂĄlez

For the past month, I’ve been here in Spain working on my next project about my Purépecha grandmother.

I’m in Albuquerque to visit the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

The palo verde trees are blossoming and covering the ground around them with golden flowers.

Gina Apostol’s stunning novel “Insurrecto” offers a nuanced narration that deftly illustrates the power of perspective and the importance of the storyteller while revisiting the complicated history of the Philippines.

On Sept. 20, I had the pleasure of interviewing Native American writer Tommy Orange on the stage for ALOUD, a lecture series at the Los Angeles Public Library, and I hope that the audience in attendance benefited from our exchange.

The child of Mexican farmworkers, Critic at Large Rigoberto GonzĂĄlez grew up in a California household of 19 people.

My two favorite books of 2017: Achy Obejas’s superb story collection “The Tower of Antilles” (Akashic Books) deals with the conflicted relationships Cubans, exiles and Cuban Americans have with their homeland, with the U.S., and, more poignantly, with each other; Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s stunning poetry debut “Beast Meridian” (Noemi Press) charts the emotional journey of a first-generation Chicana as she navigates her troubled family, cultural displacement and an “American dream” that excludes women of color.

After the publication of her Booker Prize-winning debut and international bestseller “The God of Small Things” in 1997, Arundhati Roy became one of India’s most-celebrated authors and also one of the country’s more notable political voices.

The first time I realized I had joined the exclusive bittersweet club for professionals of color was at the dinner held in my honor after giving my first reading as a published author.

In 1980, I arrived with my family to the U.S.