recommended reading:

Daughters of the Stone
Dahlma Llanos Figueroa

Daughters of the Stone follows the lives of five generations of Afro-Puerto Rican women focusing on the legacy passed from one generation to the next. How does each generation deal with that legacy given changing environments, culture? How does the environment change the legacy? What happens to communication when language and culture are truncated? What legacy does a woman who owns nothing, not even her own body, leave for her daughter? What happens to a storyteller when she can no longer tell her stories? Can one build for the future without coming to terms with the past?

Dahlma Llanos Figueroa was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in the Bronx. She was a teacher and librarian in the New York City School system until her retirement. Her life experiences in Puerto Rico and the Bronx, as well as her African heritage, form the core of her work. Dahlma lives still in the Bronx with her husband Jonathan Lessuck. Dahlma Llanos Figueroa is the recipient of the the Bronx Council on the Arts' BRIO award and the Literary Arts Fellowship & Residency.

Long For This World
Sonya Chung

Sonya Chung’s first novel tells the story of a family divided between contemporary America and a small Korean town. Long for This World is about loss and renewal and what it means to go home.

Sonya Chung is a recipient of the Charles Johnson Fiction Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and the Bronx Council on the Arts Literary Arts Fellowship & Residency.

Both books can be purchased at Barnes & Noble at Bay Plaza, located at 290 Baychester Avenue in the Co-op City section of the Bronx. To find out about literary activities that are held at the store, please call 718-862-3945 or visit http://www.barnesandnoble.com (click on "Stores and Events").