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| YA Author Francisco X. Stork |
I'm delighted to continue to showcase the nine authors who collaborated with me on OPEN MIC: RIFFS ON LIFE BETWEEN CULTURES IN TEN VOICES (published by Candlewick Press). Today I'm featuring the brilliant Francisco X. Stork, author of the piece called "Brotherly Love," a fictional look at the limits of traditional Latino masculinity.
VOYA had this to say about our book and, more specifically, about Francisco's piece:
"... Perkins organizes the stories wisely in this collection that hopes to put a humorous spin on a topical, deeply uncomfortable subject: Race. ... In Francisco X. Stork's "Brotherly Love," siblings Luis and Rosalinda have a revealing conversation about their brother Bernie. These tales in particular dance between humor and heartache, ending on notes of triumph as we look toward a hopeful future. ..."Here are the opening paragraphs from his short story in OPEN MIC, which tell so much about the close bonds Luis has with his siblings and his relationship with their father:
The day I talked to my sister started out as an ordinary Sunday. Papá began yellign at us to get ready two hours before we needed to leave for church. I know Rosalinda would be staying home because I had heard her battle with Papá earlier that morning. Once a month, Papá reluctantly agreed to let Rosalinda stay home on account of "problemas de mujer."
"Luis, let's go!" I heard Papá yell all the way from his room. I covered my face with my pillow.
"You all right?" Bernie was standing over my bed. He had a worried look on his face. He and I had shared a room since forever. "You haven't been yourself lately. Is everything okay?"Francisco's award-winning books include The Last Summer of the Death Warriors, Marcelo in the Real World, Behind the Eyes, Way of the Jaguar, and Irises. He works in Boston as a lawyer for a state agency that develops affordable housing. Francisco was born in Monterrey, Mexico, to Ruth Arguelles, a single mother from a middle-class family in Tampico, a city on the Gulf of Mexico. Find out more about this critically-acclaimed author and his work here.
