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"Daughters of Latin America" with Sandra Guzman and Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

Co-presented with the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights

Join the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System as they welcome "Daughters of Latin America" editor Sandra Guzmán and contributor Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa in conversation about an incredible collection of intergenerational voices of Latina women.

Daughters of Latin America collects the intergenerational voices of Latine women across time and space, capturing the power, strength, and creativity of these visionary writers, leaders, scholars, and activists—including 24 Indigenous voices. Several authors featured are translated into English for the first time. Grammy, National Book Award, Cervantes, and Pulitzer Prize winners as well as a Nobel Laureate and the next generation of literary voices are among the stars of this essential collection, women whose work inspires and transforms us.

Join the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System as they welcome Daughters of Latin America editor Sandra Guzmán and contributor Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa in conversation about this incredible collection. Daughters of Latin America is divided into 13 parts representing the 13 Mayan Moons, each cycle honoring a different theme. Within its pages are poems from U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón and celebrated Cervantes Prize–winner Dulce María Loynaz; lyric essays from New York Times bestselling author Naima Coster, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Guggenheim Fellow Maryse Condé; rousing speeches from U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and Lencan Indigenous land and water protector Berta Caceres; and a transcendent Mazatec chant from shaman and poet María Sabina testifying to the power of language as a cure, which opens the book.

More than a collection of writings, Daughters of Latin America is a resurrection of ancestral literary inheritance as well as a celebration of the rising voices encouraged and nurtured by those who came before them.

SANDRA GUZMÁN is a pioneering Afro Indigenous storyteller, culture writer, literary editor, and documentary filmmaker whose work reclaims and re-centers narratives of people and communities outside the margins. A multi-media storyteller, she writes, edits, translates, and produces work that illuminates and educates. Her documentary films have aired on PBS, Netflix, HBO, HULU and Prime. Her pieces have appeared on NBC, CNN, Lation Rebels, Gannett | USA Today, Audobon magazine, and shondaland.

In addition to being the editor of the the international anthology of Latin American women writers, Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women, Sandra is a producer and interviewer on the artful film, The Pieces I am, a documentary that explores the life and art of the legendary storyteller, Toni Morrison. Sandra began her journalism career as a reporter at El Diario/ La Prensa in New York City. She won an Emmy for a public affairs show exploring the US embargo against Cuba while she worked at Telemundo. She worked as a producer on Good Day New York. She was tapped to lead Latina magazine, then the largest magazine for Latinx women, and grew to reach seven million Latinas. Sandra was Associate Editor at the New York Post, where she launched and edited special feature sections, including Tempo. She is the author of The New Latina’s Bible: The Nueva Latina’s Guide to Love, Spirituality and La Vida. (Seal Press, 2011) In the early aughts, she launched the bilingual web magazine, soloella.com.

She is a Caribbean-born Boricua raised in New Jersey. She is a speaker and diversity consultant.

DALHMA LLANOS-FIGUEROA was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. She is a product of the Puerto Rican communities on the island and in the South Bronx. She attended the New York City public school system and received her academic degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Queens College–City University of New York. As a child she was sent to live with her grandparents in Puerto Rico where she was introduced to the culture of rural Puerto Rico, including the storytelling that came naturally to the women in her family, especially the older women. Much of her work is based on her experiences during this time. Dahlma taught creative writing and language and literature in the New York City public school system before becoming a young-adult librarian. She has also taught creative writing to teenagers, adults, and senior citizens throughout New York while honing her own skills as a fiction writer and memoirist. 

The hardcover edition of Daughters of the Stone was listed as a 2010 Finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize.  In 2020, the self-published the paperback edition of Daughters of the Stone won the 16th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards for Multicultural Fiction. In 2021, she was awarded the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for Fiction, a City Artists Corps Grant, and the Letras Boricuas Fellow. Her short stories appear in several anthologies, including: Bronx Memoir Project, Latina Authors and Their Muses, Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul, Breaking Ground: Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980-2012, and Growing Up Girl. Dahlma's work also appears in various literary magazines such as the Afro-Hispanic Review and Kweli Journal. Her her second novel, A Woman of Endurance is available in hard cover and paperback and in a Spanish language edition Indómita. Since her retirement, Dahlma continues to dedicate herself to her writing, speaking engagements, panels, and workshops. She resides in the Bronx with her husband, photographer Jonathan Lessuck.