“This anthology is a revelation, a multicultural blend of well-known and emerging writers who come together to give nature a voice in our literature and our lives,” said Witliff Series Editor Steven L. Davis, adding, “Not least of the many benefits to readers are its contributions from eminent Latina writers presented here as advocates for the environment. Though this theme has long existed in Chicana literature, it has never been positioned as front and center as it is in this anthology.”
Anthology editor Cordelia Barrera, a professor of English at Texas Tech University, teaches with a focus on Latinx and borderlands literature.
“This collection foregrounds issues of rootedness, cooperation, nurturance, and identity to illustrate how women’s writing about place moves us beyond landscape as capital, or as an open space of infinite exploitable resources. By representing voices from a diversity of women – some likely unknown, some rising stars, and others who are established poets, authors, and professionals in fields touching women’s studies, ecocriticism, memoir, poetry and prose – the works collected here are meant to move readers towards an expanded definition of land/landscape/territory to expose a genealogy of practices that point to reciprocal relationships with the landscape,” Barrera said.
Her own writing appears in this volume of the work of the 30 writers in the collection, including notable Latina, Anglo, African American, and Indigenous contributors. Among those writers are two Laredoans, Trinity University professor Dr. Norma Cantú and Tragaluz editor María Eugenia Guerra.
According to the TAMU Press narrative for We Are Nature Defending Itself, “The incorporation of border voices into the anthology effectively challenges long-dominant mythologies of the American West and offers a prominent place for literatures of social justice and the environment.
“We Are Nature Defending Itself adds important new work to the growing canon of nature and borderlands writing by women of color. In turn, these new voices deepen and broaden our understanding of humanity and its relationship to the natural environment.”
The 280-page clothbound anthology goes to press October 17. To place a pre-publication order go to https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781648433733/we-are-nature-defending-itself/
