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By Margarita Longoria

I want to thank Latinxs in Kid Lit for giving me an opportunity to talk about my anthology Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America with you!

I am Margarita Longoria, and I am the editor of a YA Anthology called Living Beyond Borders: Mexican in America, a mixed media collection of 20 short stories, poems, essays & more from celebrated and award-winning authors that explores the Mexican American experience.

This collection is very special and important to me, and I am honored and humbled to be able to share it with you all August 17, 2021. The idea of this book was born a few years ago, when my news feed was being bombarded with hate speech about Mexican people. I was upset and wanted to lash back. As a former English teacher, a librarian, and a lover of words, I decided the best way to do this should be with words. I felt beautiful words, hopeful words, and truthful words about our culture would counteract all the hateful words that were coming our way. Afterall, words and books bring people together. I am a firm believer that if you do not understand something, you should read about it. People are often misinformed about many serious issues, and, if given the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes, even through the pages of a book, you can begin to understand others. Before we judge, before we hate, before we form ideas about something we know nothing about, it is important to be informed. Books give you that power. I wanted to give that power to those who needed a window into our community and a mirror to those to be proud of who they are and where they come from. I reached out to several writers in the Mexican American community who agreed to take this journey with me, and I set my sights on a carefully curated anthology that would represent the culture we love. It is a dream come true and a privilege to give this book to you. I hope you enjoy this work of heart.

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The authors represented in the anthology are: Francisco X. Stork, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, David Bowles, Rubén Degollado, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Diana López, Xavier Garza, Trinidad Gonzales, Alex Temblador, Aida Salazar, Guadalupe Ruiz-Flores, Sylvia Sánchez Garza, Dominic Carrillo, Angela Cervantes, Carolyn Dee Flores, René Saldaña Jr., Justine Narro, Daniel García Ordáz, and Anna Meriano.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR: Margarita Longoria is a lifelong bookworm, book blogger, and an award-winning high school librarian in South Texas. She is the founder of Border Book Bash: Celebrating Teens and Tweens of the Rio Grande Valley and served on state reading committees for the Texas Library Association. She is the editor of LIVING BEYOND BORDERS: GROWING UP MEXICAN IN AMERICA, a mixed-media collection of short stories, personal essays, poetry, and comics, that is a hopeful love letter from the Mexican American community to today’s young readers. She holds a BA and an MA in English and an MLS in Library Science. She is passionate about diverse books, her two sons, coffee, and Mr. Darcy. She grew up in Edinburg, Texas, and lives with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. You can visit Margie online at margiesmustreads.com and follow her on Instagram at @MargiesMustReads.