r/latamlit

We'd love to hear about what you've been reading, authors you're interested in, and really anything related to LATAM Literature!

Has anyone here heard of and/or read Chicano author Ito Romo before?

I just came across this upcoming publication from Deep Vellum (another amazing publisher focusing primarily on literature in translation), and must admit, I’m certifiably intrigued!

Ito Romo’s Filth Eaters will be released in hardback format this coming Tuesday, May 19. Find a synopsis of the 125-page novel directly from Deep Vellum’s website below:

“A high-strung and inventive literary horror that will delight fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Mariana Enriquez, Ito Romo’s debut novel traces the thousand-year lineage of a new kind of vampire—the mestizo Filth Eater.”

“Granada, 1849. After centuries of scrounging in the shadows, the vampire Radamés discovers an ancient Aztec codex that reveals the vampires of the “New World” live a more “human” life—they marry, they give birth. Spurred on by tantalizing promise of a fuller existence, Radamés glamours and schemes his way onto a ship headed for Mexico. There, in the underbelly of the forgotten city of Teotihuacán, the Andalusian vampire falls in love with a member of this ancient sect of vampires who call themselves Filth Eaters. From their union, the mestizo vampire Doro is born. “

“Hopping back and forth in time from the Indus River Delta in 1099 to the Muslim Spanish empire of the 1400s to a flooded cyberpunk New York City of the future, Filth Eaters  pulls at the threads of empire, greed, and climate collapse, but the beating, bloody heart of the story is our very human desire for the love that gives life meaning. The debut novel from a celebrated writer of “Chicano Gothic” stories, this surprising, gory saga turns a new page for a centuries-old genre.”

Looking for books/authors that this sub enjoys with explicitly Marxist themes in their work. Thank you!

We'd love to hear about what you've been reading, authors you're interested in, and really anything related to LATAM Literature!

“I write stories that reflect man’s relationship with work, and how performing certain daily tasks affects and shapes his worldview, and builds his character and opinions.” — Ana Paula Maia

In case you missed it: Brazilian writer Ana Paula Maia’s novel On Earth As It Is Beneath has been named to the Shortlist for the International Booker Prize 2026, the winner of which will be announced on Tuesday, May 19.

Somehow this interview (published on March 16 of this year) from Maia and the translator of her most recent English-language publication, Padma Viswanathan, had been eluding me until today. For those interested, it’s a quick illuminating read that provides further insight into the inspiration for and process behind Maia’s On Earth As It Is Beneath.

Also, just in case it wasn’t already on your radar, Charco Press will be publishing Maia’s next English-language release, Bury Your Dead, on August 11, 2026… Personally, I can hardly wait!

If you have not yet read On Earth As It Is Beneath, I would strongly recommend it! Although the novel is a mere 100 pages or so in length, it’s a reading experience that will stick with you for a long time afterwards!

On the other hand, if you have read any of Maia’s stuff, what do you make of her work?!