5 Upcoming "Own Voices" Novels Available on Netgalley

The literary community has been absolutely ablaze with discussions surrounding American Dirt with some of the most problematic details (and there are many) being that the white author (though she has recently been self-identifying as Latinx) was given a seven figure advance and was embraced as a literary darling by the publishing industry, overlooking similar novels written by “own voices” authors (authors who share a marginalized identity with the protagonist). As readers and reviewers, many of us are reevaluating how and what we will choose to read and review going forward. Many of us have been posting alternative book suggestions written by “own voices” authors about Latinx immigration. In addition to supporting these authors and their stories, I am making a conscious effort to seek out and promote more “own voices” authors in the future. If you would like to do the same and you are a Netgalley reviewer, I’ve compiled this list to help us get started. Click titles for more information.

1. The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata (February 4 Harper Collins) A Latin American science fiction writer’s lost manuscript unites lives years later in post-Katrina New Orleans.
2. How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang (April 7 Riverhead) Listed on Netgalley but you currently have to “Wish For It”. Set against the twilight of the American gold rush, two newly orphaned siblings flee the threats of their western mining town. As children of immigrants in a land that refutes their existence, they are not only trying to survive but to find a home.
3. The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah (April 7 W.W. Norton) A Palestinian American principal at a Muslim school for girls in the Chicago suburbs wrestles with faith, loss, and identity before coming face-to-face with a school shooter radicalized by the online alt-right.
4. The New American by Micheline Aharonian Marcom (May 5 Simon & Schuster) A Guatemalan-American college student, a ‘dreamer,’ journeys home to California after being deported.
5. My Mother's House by Francesca Momplaisir (May 12 Knopf) Lucien purchases a home, La Kay (my mother’s house) in New York City’s South Ozone Park with the intention of it being a haven for his fellow Haitian immigrants, but La Kay doles out its own judgement when Lucien adopts lascivious habits.

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