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| Chicano Literary Review | |
|---|---|
| Title | Chicano Literary Review |
| Discipline | Chicano literature |
| Language | English and Spanish |
| Country | United States |
| History | 1970s–present |
| Frequency | Quarterly (historical variations) |
| Publisher | Independent/University presses |
Chicano Literary Review is a literary journal focused on Chicano and Chicana writing, criticism, and cultural commentary that emerged from the late 20th-century activist and literary movements. The review situated itself within the networks of writers, poets, and academics connected to institutions and organizations across the American Southwest and national forums, promoting creative work linked to communities in California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. Over decades it intersected with prominent figures and festivals, contributing to debates appearing alongside outlets such as MELUS, Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, and venues tied to MacArthur Fellows and National Endowment for the Arts fellows.
The Review's origins trace to student and community initiatives influenced by events like the Chicano Movement and organizations such as the Brown Berets and La Raza Unida Party, often overlapping with activist campaigns around the Delano grape strike and the work of leaders connected to the United Farm Workers. Early editorial groups included graduate students from programs at University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Texas at Austin, and faculty connected to California State University, Northridge. Funding and institutional partnerships occasionally involved grants from bodies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and collaborations with presses like University of Arizona Press and City Lights Publishers. Over time, editorial changes reflected tensions between community-based collectives—aligned with publications like El Grito del Norte and Raza Studies networks—and more academically constituted journals associated with conferences at Modern Language Association and Latin American Studies Association meetings.
The Review articulated a mission to publish fiction, poetry, essays, drama, translation, and criticism that foregrounded Chicano/a/x experience, bilingual practice, and indigeneity. Its editorial pages referenced and published work in conversation with writers and intellectuals such as Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Gloria Anzaldúa, Luis Valdez, and José Antonio Villarreal; critics and theorists connected to Frederick Luis Aldama, Angie Chabram-Dernersesian, and Debra Castillo; and poets in the lineages of León Chávez Teixeiro, Lorna Dee Cervantes, and Richard Blanco. The Review also prioritized translations of texts by authors from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Chile—linking to names like Octavio Paz, Rosario Castellanos, Pablo Neruda, and Gabriela Mistral—while engaging with legal and political contexts through the works of activists connected to Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and debates tied to Affirmative action (United States)-era litigation and cultural policy.
Contributors included a wide range of poets, novelists, playwrights, and scholars: Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Gloria Anzaldúa, Luis Alberto Urrea, Daniel Chacón, Helena María Viramontes, Diego Rivera (reproductions and commentary), Tomás Rivera, Ana Castillo, Rafael C. Castillo, Denise Chávez, Adolfo G. García, Carmen Tafolla, José Antonio Burciaga, Lucha Corpi, Serafina Núñez, Quincy Troupe, Juan Felipe Herrera, Pat Mora, Alurista, Arturo Islas, Richard Rodriguez, Rafael C. Salazar, Mayra Santos-Febres, René Davila, William H. Gass (critical responses), Miguel Ángel Asturias, Carlos Fuentes, Isabel Allende, Junot Díaz, and translators connected to Haruki Murakami-adjacent networks. The Review serialized notable short stories, long poems, and essays that later appeared in anthologies published by Wesleyan University Press and Oxford University Press and stimulated chapters in monographs released through Routledge and Duke University Press.
Publication formats varied, from stapled community zines distributed at cultural centers like Centro Cultural de la Raza and bookstores such as A Different Light and Tattered Cover to bound issues printed by university presses and independent houses in Los Angeles, El Paso, and San Antonio. Distribution channels included subscriptions, sales at festivals like National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies conferences and fairs connected to the National Book Festival, and partnerships with library systems in the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Periods of hiatus corresponded with funding cycles and editorial turnover; special issues were co-published with programs at California State University, Long Beach and University of New Mexico.
Scholarly reception placed the Review within the canon-building efforts that elevated Chicano/a/x literature into syllabuses at Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, and University of Chicago, and it influenced curriculum development at community colleges such as East Los Angeles College. Critics in outlets like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly debated its role relative to mainstream publishing houses including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. Its pages helped launch careers that later won awards like the MacArthur Fellowship, PEN/Faulkner Award, National Book Award, and Pulitzer Prize, and its archives informed exhibitions at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and Getty Research Institute.
Archival collections are held in university special collections and libraries, including holdings at University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library, University of Texas at Austin's Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of California, Los Angeles's Chicano Studies Research Center, and the Library of Congress. Digital preservation efforts have involved collaborations with repositories like HathiTrust, Internet Archive partners, and regional histories curated by organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Preservation priorities emphasize ephemera, editorial correspondence with figures associated with Arte Público Press and Mestizo Publishers, and recorded oral histories located in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship.
Category:Chicano literature journals