The Indiana Review has recently published its Summer 2006 Latina & Latino Writers issue. A step in the right direction, signaling a current, albeit slow moving, trend to color the canon: the creation of an issue dedicated entirely to us is, for lack of a better word, gangsta.

The issue is jam-packed with great Latino and Latina poets and fiction writers. The talented and beautiful–and NYU MFA grad–Angie Cruz. One of her novels is going to be made into a movie sometime soon. (Trust me.) Or how about Filipina Puerto Rican poet Kristin Naca. (BFA girl currently doing her Ph.D. in English) Or, how about a man who’s a doctor, a Harvard Medical School doctor, who finds time to write poetry and fiction? Check out New Jersey native Rafael Campo. Or, if you want to read a new and upcoming poet, also published in this incredible issue, check out Columbia’s (that’s Columbia, not Colombia, i.e. MFA) Diana Marie Delgado, a NYC poet from LA, read and listen to her at fishousepoems.org. Or, how about another Columbia graduate, Emmy Peréz, a fantastic writer who is only an Assistant Professor of English & Creative Writing at the University of Texas-Pan American, when she isn’t writing. I wish I would have had a professor like her. And that is just a sampling of the great writers, not just Latino or Latina writers, that you’ll find throughout this issue. (Included are, Robert Lopez, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Peter Ramos, Gary Soto, Virgil Suarez, Liliana Valenzuela (the woman who translates all of Sandra Cisneros’ books) and Sheryl Luna to name a few.) Check it out. Order just an issue or get a year subscription!