Abre means to open. Caminos means way. An abrecaminos is one who opens the way, who makes a way where there is no way. One who opens one way opens many ways. These young writers explore their worlds in two anthologies accompanied by the literature of the best Latino/a writers. Each book begins with a writing peregrinage/pilgrimage to Macchu Picchu accompanied by Pablo Neruda’s Las Alturas de Macchu Picchu, and this principio/principle: The way up is the way down.

Their work here includes long, personal transformational poems exploring border crossings that are geographical, political and personal. Essays and stories are first documents. They witness to loss, migration, arrival. Writers explore archetypal images of women in Latin American culture, by reading and writing to, famous women in the culture, including Malinche, Guadalupe, Sor Juana, Rosario Castellanos, and Gloria Anzaldúa.

Interview with their mothers are first family documents in a new country. Telling their stories to their children, the mothers anchor, and give place names to the towns and ranchos from where many of these families have emigrated. They reveal the range of experiences these families bring to a new country. Interviews with farm workers show first experiences in Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington.

Written mostly in English, but going back and forth between languages, and sometimes remaining in Spanish, many of these writers are bilingual on the way to becoming bicultural. These books, which include photos of each writer and families interviewed, along with an extensive About the Author and Vocabulario sections that are documents meant to enhance understanding of the talents of these writers, as well as the complexity of the journey. The truths of their lives takes care of a great deal of misunderstanding. The fact of their beauty and stories stands in direct contradiction to their press.

Photography by Rob Prout and Jim Bodeen