Author spotlight: Cecilia Aragon

An engineering professor at the University of Washington, Cecilia Aragon has also worked with Nobel Prize winners, and taught astronauts how to fly. Aragon spoke to Play about her favorite Latinx reads:

“It’s important to remember that Latinx voices do not create a single harmony. We come from many countries, ancestries, backgrounds, religions, politics, and most definitely opinions. It’s never correct to say – as an editor once informed me –, ‘We already published our Hispanic story this year,’ as though one of us suffices to check off a box on a form of diversity-lite.

"In curating this list, I showcase a fraction of the diversity within Latinx writing, whether it’s magical realism, indigenous legends, literary excellence, or extraordinary memoirs. The list is certainly not all-inclusive — I simply wanted to highlight books I’ve personally read and enjoyed from a variety of genres and backgrounds.

"I’ve included books that have been nearly universally lauded, as well as books that are relatively unknown. Some of them moved me and kept me awake at night when I read them as a child, and some I discovered only recently. Each sounds a vibrant note in the complicated – and at times dissonant – chorus of Latinx voices.”

Check out Aragon’s reading list below, along with one of her own titles.