¡Ándale, Prieta!

¡Ándale, Prieta! A Love Letter to My Family
AuthorYasmín Ramírez
LanguageEnglish
SubjectHispanic and Latin American Culture
GenreMemoir
PublisherCinco Puntos Press
Publication date
2 August 2022
Pages272
ISBN978-1-94762-755-0
Websitewww.leeandlow.com/books/andale-prieta

¡Ándale, Prieta! A Love Letter to My Family is a 2022 memoir by Yasmín Ramírez, a Mexican–American writer and associate professor of English and creative writing at El Paso Community College.[1] She was motivated to write the memoir after the death of her maternal grandmother, Ita.[2]

Synopsis

In the book, Ramírez tells about growing up in El Paso, Texas.[3] The stars of the book are the women in her life: her great grandmother Lupe, her mother Leticia, and most importantly, her grandmother Ita.[4]

In the second half of the book she also explores her strained relationship with her absent father.[4]

The title reclaims the sometimes derogatory term prieta, which her grandmother used as a nickname for the author, but which is often used in Spanish as a slur to describe people with dark skin.[2]

Reception

Kirkus Reviews praised the book's "vivid imagery" and declared it to be a "promising debut".[4] Book Riot selected ¡Ándale, Prieta! as a "Most Anticipated Book of 2022" and praised the writing for being both "rich" and "casual".[5]

Author

Ramírez in 2020

Ramírez completed an MFA in the Bilingual Creative Writing program at the University of Texas at El Paso.[3] She is an associate professor of English and creative writing at El Paso Community College.[1] She has published a number of short stories and was a 2021 Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Writing Author Fellow.[3]

¡Ándale, Prieta! started as her thesis and took four or five years to complete.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b EPHP Promotions (6 May 2022). "EPCC English Professor Yasmín Ramírez Releases Book". El Paso Herald-Post. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b Aguilar, Sofía (29 April 2022). "Yasmín Ramírez's '¡Andalé, Prieta!' Explores Grief, Latinidad and Matriarchy". HipLatina. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Nahmad, Erica (1 June 2022). "Meet Yasmín Ramírez, Author of '¡Ándale, Prieta!', Who Transformed Her Personal Struggles Into a Unique Narrative". BeLatina. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "¡Ándale, Prieta!". Kirkus Reviews. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  5. ^ Laveaga Luna, Minerva. "¡Ándale Prieta!". Book Riot. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  6. ^ Perry, Jasmine (11 May 2022). "El Paso teacher writes a memoir called Ándale Prieta!". KTSM. Retrieved 30 October 2022.