Ricardo León Peña-Villa is known to many simply as Poeta, and even though his latest book, Loisaida: Historias del Frío, is filled with short stories and not poems, his verse carries a rhythm that more than earns him the title. On Friday, December 9, at the Lectorum bookstore in Manhattan, the book containing 24 stories was officially presented in the U.S. The stories take readers from la Habana, to Umbrella House, occupied by squatters in the Lower East Side (a movement which the Poeta was a part of and the place the story collection is named for), to the country of his birth Colombia.

Ricardo León Peña-Villa, delighted those that attended the book presentation and the book will too. There will be another presentation of the book next week, Friday, December 16, at 6:30 pm, at 513 West 207th Street in uptown Manhattan. Historias del Frío makes a great gift for the holidays for yourself or others.