There was no better way to celebrate the total lunar eclipse on this Blood Moon than with the cover reveal of my middle grade novel, The Moon Within! The good people over at BookPage gave it an EXCLUSIVE REVEAL on their blog and I couldn't be more grateful. They also shared an excerpt from the beginning of the book! 

The cover was illustrated by the wildly talented Joe Cepeda (illustrator of the iconic cover of Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan). Often times, illustrators are overlooked in reveals but their work is so important! The role of the illustrator is to read the book (with its many events and themes), and then represent the book with one image. Not easy to do by any means! Joe has done this and beyond. He has perfectly captured my main character's spirit and journey with every poetic detail of this beautiful painting. I'm so in love! 

The book will be released in February 2019. The ARCS (advanced reader's copies) will be out next and will go to industry professionals such as librarians, book reviewers and booksellers. Stay tuned for your chance to win an ARC once they are out. 

Happy Full Blood Moon! 

I'm beyond blessed and excited to finally share that my debut middle grade novel in verse will be published by Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic! 

The Labor of a Dream
by Aida Salazar
Monday, September 4, 2017


We come from a long line of dreamers
Bracero blood braced itself
inside our veins
generations of the ebb
        and go
    run and 
come back tumble
    of migrant imaginings 
for a better life
an un-violated life
a hunger-less life

abundance measured 
        by the cracks on 
    our dishpan hands
    our book-filled hands
    our toiling hands
    our back broken hands
bounty in belly hearts full 
        despite Yankee spit on our faces
        or the swollen echos of “beaner” 
        bleached into our skin

grandfathers         grandmothers
    mothers     fathers
        children
    us

lawful before laws 
abiding instead by the prophecy that 
we would wander back across 
lands our ancestors once abandoned
    survival etched into every impossible day
inside this US where we’ve
slept and awoken to 
loves long lost 
    to customs 
    to family 
    to earth 
between barbed wire
     deserts and the greatness of 
a river now red with our blood

Our futures fade into longing
to stay, to ignore the mandate
to return to the place
where we are further unknown
where not all is pristine 
like mountain 
like spring
like memory.

We remain, deemed dreamers
denounced for dreaming
inside the vacuum of history, erased
where we must yet again fight
for the light to be human
to fulfill the furies of
our expected failures 
the pains of the gutters of the margin
    to tear open the minds of those
who wish to see us vanished 
    to rise
    to be seen as citizen
    to be read 
    as always having belonged. 

This was written on Labor Day 2017 as the government deliberates over the fate of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). If ended, 800,000 registered undocumented immigrants stand to be deported. 

It is a great honor to share that Huizache Literary Magazine has published my essay, The Making of an Angel. I've been such a fan of writer/editor, Dagoberto Gilb, and his tremendous work and so it is a special thrill to be included with these stellar writers.  Now I can finally buy one of those "Huizachera" T-shirts and wear it proudly! Ajua!

Without revealing too much, my essay is about postmortem children's photography and my family's connection to this practice.  It shows a riveting picture of my Tía Consuelo when she was 14 years old and her baby as well as some historical photos by the prolific photographer, Juan de Dios Machain.  This essay was so hard to write and written through many tears. It is part of my continued necessary process to use my art to heal from the loss of my sweet girl. I feel so grateful that it would find a home in Huizache #6.  

If you would like to order a copy of the magazine, please visit the Huizache website here. 

Love, 
​Aida

The moon's been a powerful force in my life and right now her presence, her imagery, her inspiration are more alive than ever.  On May, 21, 2016, I'll be a featured reader at the Lunada Literary Lounge -- a long running open mic and feature writer reading series in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District that only happens on the full moon -- curated by poeta extraordinaire and true homegirl, Sandra Garcia Rivera.  I'll be reading excerpts from my memoir In the Womb of Love about losing my first born infant daughter, my novel in verse for middle grades, The Moon Within, and also some of my story that inspired the ballet, By the Light of the Moon, of course!

Full moon energy is intended for celebration.  I'll be celebrating my return to writing, a return to my heart, to my commitment to storytelling as an act of resistance and positive social change.  I am beyond grateful to the Lunada and Sandra especially for the invitation, for creating this space and keeping the light lit for writers to find their way home. 

Coyolxauhqui, Aztec Goddess of the moon.

I have the honor of reading at this great big writer's conference in LA thanks to my beautiful friend and colega, Vickie Vertiz.  The panel that she has so generously coordinated and will be moderating will feature writers that hail from Southeast LA - Stephan D. Gutierrez, Melinda Palacio, Vickie and yours truly! 

Here are the details:
From Bukowski to Viramontes, working-class writing in Los Angeles is a longstanding tradition. Latinos are the largest ethnic group in the county, bringing avant-garde aesthetics to literature. However, many of our stories have yet to be told. This reading highlights cutting edge poetry, story, and performance by working-class and queer Latinos from a little-known part of Los Angeles: the southeast. From railroad yards to factory floors, writers share their work of grit and heart.

Room 410, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level  
Thursday, March 31, 2016
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm 

https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/event_detail/6432

​https://www.facebook.com/events/199958337033710/200009863695224/