Daring to Write ─ Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women

With this new Latino literary collection Erika M. Martínez has brought together twenty-four engaging narratives written by Dominican women and women of Dominican descent living in the United States. The first volume of its kind, Daring to Write's insightful works offer readers a wide array of content that touches on a range of topics: migration, history, religion, race, class, gender, and sexuality. The result is a moving and imaginative critique of how these factors intersect and affect daily lives.

The volume opens with a foreword by Julia Alvarez and includes short stories, novel excerpts, memoirs, and personal essays and features work by established writers such as Angie Cruz and Nelly Rosario, alongside works by emerging writers. Narratives originally written in Spanish appear in English for the first time, translated by Achy Obejas. An important contribution to Latino/a studies, these writings will introduce readers to a new collection of rich literature.

Erika Martinez was born in New Jersey to Dominican parents and spent most of her childhood in Santo Domingo. She has an MFA from Mills College and currently works with the National Writing Project in New Hampshire on their annual Middle and High School Voices anthology and as a staff member of their Invitational Summer Writing Institute. She has contributed to various anthologies includingWise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education, edited by Jennifer De Leon (U of Nebraska Press, 2014) & Homelands: Women’s Journeys through Race, Place and Time, edited by Patricia Justine Tumang, Jenesha de Rivera, and Edwidge Danticat (Seal Press, 2006).