¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets

“We defy translation,” Sandra María Esteves writes. “Nameless / we are a whole culture / once removed.” She is half Dominican, half Puerto Rican, with indigenous and African blood, born in the Bronx. Like so many of the contributors, she is a blend of cultures, histories and languages.

Containing the work of more than 40 poets—equally divided between men and women—who self-identify as Afro-Latino, ¡Manteca! is the first poetry anthology to highlight writings by Latinos of African descent. Th...