Growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Chicago in the nineties, Erika S̀nchez was a self-described pariah, misfit, and disappointment--a foul-mouthed, melancholic rabble-rouser who painted her nails black but also loved comedy, often laughing so hard with her friends that she had to leave her school classroom. Twenty-five years later, she's now an award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, but she's still got an irrepressible laugh,...

"Anchored by the tough grandmother who taught her how to stand firm and throw a punch, debut author Yas̕mn Ra̕mrez writes about the punches life's thrown her non-traditional family of tough Mexican American women. Having spent years of her twenties feeling lost--working an intensely taxing retail job and turning to bars for comfort--the blow of her grandmother's death pushes Yas̕mn to unravel. So she comes home to El Paso, Texas, where people know...