RAQUEL VASQUEZ
The retelling of Mexican family folktales, feminist reclamations of ancient myths, and new motherhood: Raquel Vasquez Gillilands debut collection, Dirt and Honey, unearths the connection of these experiences with innovative language. Gilliland writes across myth, describing a woman who grew leaves, the grandmother of God, and the story of her grandfather, who left for Texas as a refugee of the Mexican Civil War. Gillilands work centers readers in a place all her own-one in which ancient lineages are drawn with breast milk, seduction begins with feasts of peppers, and fisherchildren displaced by wars are always welcomed into new lands.
