Alex Espinoza Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Latinidad: Transnational Cultures in the United States Books

Publication Order of Akashic Noir Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Recommendations

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Alex Espinoza is an American published queer writer and educator who goes by the pronouns he/him/his/they.

He has a disability and resides in Los Angeles. He is known for writing his 2007 debut fictional novel Still Water Saints, which came out to great reception and critical acclaim, as well as his subsequent fictional novels. These include The Five Acts of Diego Leon, which won a 2014 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.

Espinoza is also known for writing his nonfiction novel Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime. He also wrote the 2024 fictional novel The Sons of El Rey and wrote the 2008 collection The Dream Within.

He has won fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Macdowell, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has also written reviews, stories, and essays that have been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, LitHub, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR. He also wrote a short story titled “Detainment” that was picked to be included in the 2022 Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories.

Alex was born in Tijuana, Mexico, on Kumeyaay original lands. His parents moved to the United States when he was two years old, and he grew up in the southern California area in Los Angeles. He would attend the University of California, Riverside, and attended the University of California where he received an MFA from Irvine’s Program in Writing.

Alex Espinoza teaches today at the University of California, Riverside, within Tongya, Cahuilla, Luiseño & Serrano original lands, serving as the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair and Professor of Creative Writing. He is married to his husband, Kyle. Together they reside in Los Angeles on Gabrieliño-Tongya land.

Still Water Saints is the first fictional book to come out from Alex Espinoza. It came out in Spanish as Los Santos de Agua Mansa, California from Random House. If you have been interested in reading a unique new book and have wanted to check out a new voice in fiction for some time, check out this intriguing debut from Alex Espinoza!

This is the story that author Sandra Cisneros calls ‘as perfect as the beads of a rosary’. Lisa See also had high praise for this book, calling this first novel from the author ‘evocative’ and ‘fresh, magical, beautiful’.

This is a book that goes over a year in the life of the mostly Latino town known as Agua Mansa. The town exists just beyond the L.A. fringes and it is the place where the Botánica Oshún is located.

This is the place where all types of people come in search of herbs, charms, and candles. But above it all, they are mostly looking for the guidance of Perla Portillo, the owner of the shop. She has helped the community out for years and has given her clients the types of tools that they need to get over all types of crises, whether they are small or large.

There are many clients that come to Perla. There is Juan, an average man who is dealing with the death of his father. There is the schoolteacher Nancy, who has recently been married. There’s also the addict Shawn who has been searching for peace in a life that has been marked by chaos, and the teen Rosa who is looking for herself while also trying to lose weight.

When a stranger with a past cloaked in mystery comes into the area, Perla is the first to try and help them. But she also finds that she is suddenly having a difficult time doing so. She’s going to have to take on her hopes in life that have not come true as well as the doubts that she is suddenly starting to have about the place that she holds in a world that is constantly and quickly changing.

Written with a certain eloquence, this book brings life’s unpredictability as well as the spirit’s resilience through as part of the journeys of the Agua Mansa people, and of one woman who lies at the center of it all.

They are the stories of betrayal, faith, loss, love, the bonds of community, the bonds of family, and how sometimes change is one of the only constants that we have. A wonderful debut novel from Alex Espinoza that literature aficionados will be sure to enjoy.

The Five Acts of Diego Leon is the second novel to come out from Alex Espinoza. If you enjoyed books such as The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, you may enjoy this exciting novel about a young man with considerable gifts who wants to go to Hollywood.

He leaves Mexico behind to take the journey in the late twenties as he wants to go after his dreams no matter what it costs him. If you think that this sounds like an interesting story, grab a copy of this book and read it or read on to find out some of what happens along the way!

The time is July of 1917, and the place is Mexico. Diego Leon is eleven years old and has now been made an orphan. A fever took his mother away from him and the civil war has upset his father to the point of him being a broken man.

Diego is sent to live with his aristocratic grandparents in the provincial capital as a result of the situation. They work hard to try and remake Diego. They give him a new identity, changing his present and getting him ready to try and take over the family business.

It’s a lot of pressure and they have certain expectations for Diego which he finds oppressive. The only relief from it all is his music teacher, who is warm and nice to him, as well as her son, who grows very close with Diego.

Things all change when the grandparents attempt to force Diego to get engaged to a woman he doesn’t love. Diego at last has had enough and decides to leave it all behind and make his way to Hollywood.

Silent films are then being transitioned into what are being called ‘talkies’, and Prohibition is really going. Can Diego find a new life as well as love and acceptance in this place, a place famously known for people being cutthroat and out only for themselves? Or will chasing a dream cost him all that he has? Read this book from Alex Espinoza to find out!