Mujeres Mágicas is a bilingual Spanish-English anthology of domestic workers writing stories that. cross languages, genres and borders to reveal lessons of survival and celebration for all.
Mujeres Mágicas is a brave, moving, and powerful collection that carries us inside the lives and truths of Latina immigrant women, narrated on their own terms. Over and over, I found myself floored and moved by the courage, pain, resilience, and insight found in these pages. This book is essential reading, beautifully woven, and an enormous gift.
Carolina de Robertis, Author of Cantoras and the Gods of Tango
This luminous blend of poems and essays from leaders within the domestic workers movement reveal the universal power of story and storytelling. Through childhood memories, life at the border and building political power here in the US, I was touched by the strength, awareness and vulnerability the writers brought to the page. An inspiring must-read.
Ai-Jen Poo, Executive Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
I can think of no other book cutting through the rhetoric of hate to speak truth to power in the ways that have been enacted by Mujeres Mágicas. This is literature at its most immediate, urgent, and necessary existence in our world. This is resistance. I celebrate these women, their words, and their lives. I celebrate this book as it tears through the fabric of these dark times.
Truong Tran, Visual artist and poet
En Español
Mujéres mágicas es una antología valiente, conmovedora y poderosa que nos lleva al interior de las vidas y verdades de las mujeres inmigrantes Latinas narradas en sus propios términos. Una y otra vez me vi sorprendida y emocionada por el coraje, el dolor, la resiliencia y las observaciones que encontramos en estas páginas. Este libro es una lectura esencial, bellamente entretejida y un enorme regalo.
Carolina de Robertis, autora de Cantoras y Los dioses del tango
Esta mezcla luminosa de poemas y ensayos de las líderes del movimiento de trabajadoras del hogar revela el poder universal de las historias y el contar historias. A través de los recuerdos de la infancia, la vida en la frontera y la construcción de poder político aquí en Estados Unidos, me conmovió la fuerza, la conciencia y vulnerabilidad que las escritoras plasman en la página. Es una lectura inspiradora obligada.
Ai-Jen Poo, Directora Ejecutiva de la Alianza Nacional de Trabajadoras del Hogar
No puedo pesar en ningún otro libro que corte con la retórica del odio y le hable al poder con verdad como Mujéres Mágicas. Esto es literatura en su manera más inmediata, urgente y necesaria en el mundo. Esto es resistencia. Celebro a estas mujeres, sus palabras y sus vidas; celebro este libro y sus lágrimas a través del tejido de estos tiempos oscuros.
Troung Tran, artista visual y poeta
Author Biography:
Las Malcriadas are a group of writers who met in writing workshops sponsored by Mujeres Unidas y Activas and facilitated by editor Karina Muñiz-Pagán The name of the group, Las Malcriadas, emerged from a story written in the workshop, and featured in this anthology. Malcriada often means bad-mannered, rebellious, and unladylike. In the story, the young girl questions why she has to do so many chores while her brother gets to play. The book we have created was inspired by this quote from Gloria Anzaldúa's "Letter to Third World Women" "Rewrite the stories others have miswritten about me, about you... I say mujer mágica, empty yourself. Shock yourself into new ways of perceiving the world, shock your readers into the same. Write with your eyes like painters, with your ears like musicians, with your feet like dancers. You are the truthsayer with quill and torch. Write with your tongues of fire. Don't let the pen banish you from yourself."
