About

Delve into two unforgettable stories of love and transformation with Alejandro Heredia and David Wright Faladé. Heredia’s spellbinding debut, Loca, follows Sal and Charo, two best friends from Santo Domingo, as they navigate migration, queerness, and chosen family in 1990s New York City. In contrast, The New Internationals transports readers to post-war Paris, where young Cecile and Seb are swept into cross-cultural love, political awakening, and the rising tide of post-colonial movements. Together, these authors explore friendship, identity, and how communities forged across borders – whether emotional or national – can reimagine belonging in times of upheaval.

Moderated by Tomas Hachard

Loca

Read more about Loca

Buy from Apple Books

Buy from

Buy from Simon & Schuster Canada

The New Internationals

Read more about The New Internationals

Buy from Apple Books

Buy from

Buy from Grove/Atlantic

Alejandro Heredia

Alejandro Heredia is a writer from the Bronx. He has received fellowships from LAMBDA Literary, Dominican Studies Institute, UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, and elsewhere.

Read more about Alejandro Heredia

David Wright Faladé

David Wright Faladé is a professor of English at the University of Illinois. He is the author of the novel Black Cloud Rising, and co-author of the young adult novel Away Running and the nonfiction book Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers, which was a New Yorker notable selection and a St.

Read more about David Wright Faladé

Credit Cristobal Vivar