American literature in Spanish

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American literature in Spanish in the United States dates back as 1610 when the Spanish explorer Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá published his epic poem Historia de Nuevo México (History of New Mexico).^[1] He was an early chronicler of the conquest of the Americas and a forerunner of Spanish-language literature in the United States given his focus on the American landscape and the customs of the people.^[1] However, it was not until the late 20th century that Spanish language literature written by Americans was regularly published in the United States.^[2][3]

The rise of Spanish-language Latino literature has been fraught with obstacles related to publication and audience.^[4] Latino/a authors have expanded audience expectations by attending to narrative innovation and design and by creating challenging reading situations.^[5] Rather than compose their narratives with an actual audience in mind, many Latino/a authors sought to write for a new, ideal audience capable of engaging with even the most complex story worlds and stylistic innovations. From the 1960s to the present, breakthrough authors who created new audiences include Oscar “Zeta” Acosta, Gloria Anzaldúa, Piri Thomas, Giannina Braschi, Sandra Cisneros, Junot Díaz, and Gilbert Hernandez have engaged a sophisticated bilingual readership in their avant-garde narratives, code-switching, serialization, and intertextual play in Spanish, Spanglish, and English.^[4] Their works, often first published in independent and academic presses, were widely taught as foundational works in the burgeoning fields of Latino Studies and Third World Feminisms; their academic following helped to create a commercial market for Latino literature.^[6][2]

By 2000, many more Mexican-Americans/Chicanos, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans on the island and Nuyoricans on the mainland, and US immigrants from Latin America have published literature in Spanish in US trade, academic, and mainstream publishing houses.^[6] Other US based authors who either write in Spanish or who regularly use Spanish phrases in their works include: Julia Álvarez, Martín Espada, Rhina Espaillat, Nicholasa Mohr, Cristina García, Óscar Hijuelos, Cherríe Moraga, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Gustavo Pérez Firmat, and Ilan Stavans.^[7]