“The Daughters of Latin America are spread throughout the four corners of the world, and they are bound by their connection to the land no matter where they are,” says Sandra Guzmán, award-winning author, editor, and documentary filmmaker in this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.

For decades, Sandra’s work has explored identity, land, memory, race, sexuality, spirituality, culture, and gender. She was a producer of The Pieces I Am, a critically-acclaimed documentary about the art and life of her literary mentor Toni Morrison, and she is the author of the non-fiction feminist book, The New Latina’s Bible. In all of her projects she’s guided by what she needs to be doing at the present. And THAT’s the present – the gift.

During the pandemic, Sandra was presented, gifted, the opportunity to curate and edit Daughters of Latin America, a groundbreaking anthology released this week by Amistad Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Through this book, she creates a space to illuminate brilliant writers who have achieved acclaim, are on the rise, and women who have been underappreciated, erased, and forgotten. These Daughters skillfully express themselves through poetry, speeches, letters, essays, drama, memoirs, humor, short stories, songs, chants, diaries, and novels. Sandra masterfully weaves his collective work from 140 women writers, scholars, and activists from across the world that spans time, styles, languages, and traditions.

“As an Afro-Indigenous woman from Puerto Rico, my first instinct was to include indigenous and African Latinas and defy the imperialist definition of what comprises Latin America,” Sandra explains, highlighting the inclusion of voices from Haiti, Guadalupe, Brazil, Mazateca, and other non-Spanish speaking nations. This required a team of several dozen translators to step in to expertly deliver the writings in English for the book launch this week, and for the Spanish version that will come out in November.

In one word Sandra expresses her gratitude for everyone involved in the birth of this book that will bring the voices of Latine women out of their invisibility – “I want to say, Bo’matum, the sacred thank you in Taíno.”