Los Bookis Queer Latine Book Club

A book club with Los Bookis Podcast and the Mt. Pleasant Library to celebrate and uplift Queer Latine authors and stories.

Join our community of readers for a bimonthly book club where we will discuss titles centering queer Latine voices and stories with library staff and Los Bookis, a podcast for queer Latine bookworms. This space will center queer Latine authors and celebrate storytelling, community, and conversation.

Los Bookis Meetup
Thursday, September 10th
6:15 PM – 7:45 PM
Alligator Tears: A Memoir in Essays
Edgar Gomez
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Ask for a copy of the book at the Circulation desk in the Mt. Pleasant Library! Or send us an email at mtpleasantlibrary@dc.gov if you have any questions.

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About the Book: Alligator Tears: A Memoir in Essays

A darkly comic memoir-in-essays about the scam of the American Dream and doing whatever it takes to survive in the Sunshine State—from the award-winning author of High-Risk HomosexualIn Florida, one of the first things you’re taught as a child is that if you’re ever chased by a wild alligator, the only way to save yourself is to run away in zigzags. It’s a lesson on survival that has guided much of Edgar Gomez’s life.

Like the night his mother had a stroke while he and his brother stood frozen at the foot of her bed, afraid she’d be angry if they called for an ambulance they couldn’t afford. Gomez escaped into his mind, where he could tell himself nothing was wrong with his family. Zig. Or years later, as a broke college student, he got on his knees to put sandals on tourists’ smelly, swollen feet for minimum wage at the Flip Flop Shop. After clocking out, his crew of working-class, queer, Latinx friends changed out of their uniforms in the passenger seats of each other’s cars, speeding toward the relief they found at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Zag. From committing a little bankruptcy fraud for the money for veneers to those days he paid his phone bill by giving massages to closeted men on vacation, back when he and his friends would Venmo each other the same emergency twenty dollars over and over. Zig. Zag. Gomez survived this way as long as his legs would carry him.

Alligator Tears is a fiercely defiant memoir-in-essays charting Gomez’s quest to claw his family out of poverty by any means necessary and exposing the archetype of the humble poor person for what it is: a scam that insists we remain quiet and servile while we wait for a prize that will always be out of reach. For those chasing the American Dream and those jaded by it, Gomez’s unforgettable story is a testament to finding love, purpose, and community on your own terms, smiling with all your fake teeth.

About the Author: Edgar Gomez
Edgar Gomez is a queer NicaRican writer born and raised in Florida. He is the author of the memoir High-Risk Homosexual, winner of the American Book Award, a Stonewall Israel-Fishman Nonfiction Book Honor Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. Their sophomore book, Alligator Tears, was called "triumphant, dazzling, and unfailingly stylish" by Publisher's Weekly, received a Florida Book Award, and is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir.  A graduate of the University of California’s MFA program, Gomez has written for The LA Times, Poets & Writers, Lithub, New York Magazine, and beyond. He has received fellowships from The New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and The Black Mountain Institute. He lives between New York and Puerto Rico. Find him across social media @OtroEdgarGomez.
 

What We’re About:
📖 Centering queer Latine authors in every book we read
💬 Engaging discussions, creative activities, and community connection

Who Can Join:
Everyone interested in reading and uplifting queer Latine voices!

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