#RadicalReadz: Poet X

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, this month’s #RadicalReadz pick is Poet X written by Latinx Artivist, Elizabeth Acevedo. Born and raised in the streets of Harlem, she discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world.

Poet X has received multiple awards including the Carnegie Medal, National Book Award for Young People’s literature and many more. This powerful, queer, revolutionary tale demonstrates the complex reality of the Latinx community. Elizabeth Acevedo shared why Latinx stories are so important in the white-dominated publishing industry, saying, “They don’t look like us. They’re not from our neighborhoods. They don’t speak like us. They don’t walk through the world like us. These ain’t our books.” There is no muting this Latinx Queen!