LITERANISTA Dialogue on Multicultural Books, Tech & Life

Explore how Basque, Portuguese, and noble European families shaped Puerto Rico’s southern towns (like Ponce) through surnames, migration paths, and hidden ancestral histories.

Many of the names we still see today (Montalvo, Negrón, Fontanes, Rivera, Chamorro, Zapata, Maldonado) carry the intertwined legacies of Taíno survivors, Africans and European migrants who moved through the island. This guide unravels those lineages with care.

Ayana Gray’s I, Medusa reimagines the mythic villain as sister, priestess, survivor. Read Valerie M. Evans’ review of this bold, haunting retelling.

Book review and critique by Valerie M. Evans: Brooklyn’s Jane Doe reveals how one woman’s assault became a public smear, and why her fight for justice still matters today.

Before I ever knew what a perfumer was or that someone could make a living decoding and remixing scent, I …

Somewhere tucked away, high on the Palisades, on lovely, dead end street, in the ether of the internet and Google …