I'm Going on My First-Ever Book Tour! 📚✨
my thoughts on poetry & community - welcome back to The Slush Pile!
Issue 47 of my newsletter The Slush Pile will be short n’ sweet this month! For my Southern California friends and loved ones, I’m so excited to announce that I’m officially going on my first book tour to celebrate the publication of my poetry chapbook, amor.! I originally conceived of this project in 2024 as an homage to my relationship with my partner, published it in March 2025 with Bottlecap Press, and now starting this month in June, I’m finally going on tour!
Though I’ve published two other poetry chapbooks, they were both published during the peak of COVID-19, and so obviously it wasn’t safe to be in community with each other at all to celebrate these publications. Now that I’m feeling safer, I’m excited to hit the road and celebrate my third book with friends, family, and loved ones. Like I said, I’ve never gone on tour before so I wanted to make it extra fun and unique. Each location has special features, including special opening performances, book raffles and giveaways, mini writing workshops, and more. On top of that, every event (sans the Pop-Hop) is free and doesn’t require RSVPs so as to prevent any barriers from folks attending, so I hope you can join me at at least one book tour stop this summer!
You can view the full tour schedule below and it’s also available to view on my Instagram page here. In the meantime, thank you everyone who has ever purchased a copy of my books, attended my events, shared my posts, or cheered me on in any way - I truly appreciate you!
My Book Tour Schedule
Sunday, June 29th - Matilija Lending Library in El Monte, 5pm - 7pm
Tuesday, July 1st - Altadena Library in Altadena, Indie Author Night, 6:30pm - 8pm
Sunday, July 6th - Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena, 5:30pm - 7pm
Saturday, July 12th - The Pop-Hop Books & Print in Highland Park, 7-9pm (buy tickets here!)
Friday, July 18th - Underdog Bookstore in Monrovia, Open Mic Night, 7pm
Sunday, July 20th - Café con Libros in Pomona, CA, 4pm-6pm
all my love,
sofía xx
notes from the writer’s desk ✍️
my favorite recently pub’d pieces:
updates:
⭐️SUBMIT YOUR WORK!⭐️ My friend Paula Macena and I are co-editing a zine anthology dedicated to immigrants and migrants! All proceeds from the zine will be distributed between Freedom for Migrants - an immigrant-led, abolitionist organization committed to ending immigration incarceration - and select gofundmes from families who have impacted by ICE detentions. We are currently accepting creative writing and visual art until June 20, so please go submit y’all!! Read the details and submit here!
⭐️AVAILABLE TO ORDER!⭐️ amor. is my third poetry chapbook and it’s out NOW and available to purchase from Bottlecap Press! This project was born out of a need to document the origins of my relationship with my partner and subsequent life together. It’s about love, honesty, respect, healing, and longing, and I hope you enjoy it whether you’re in love yourself or just love reading works about love. Purchase your copy here!
⭐️AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!⭐️ I’m so excited to announce that my debut children’s book, Queer Latine Heroes, is now available for preorder!! The book spotlights past and present queer heroes from Latin America and the U.S. and is forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishers on September 18, 2025. Find all the options to preorder here!
⭐️WATCH MY TEDXTALK!⭐️ I’m thrilled to share that my TEDx talk, “The Power of Stories in Representing Our World” is now LIVE on YouTube! It would mean the world to me if you could watch, like, comment, and share with your classrooms, group chats, and everyone you know. Thank you for your support! Watch the talk here!
resources:
Looking for book recommendations? Check out my Bookstagram and TikTok to keep up with what I’m reading and loving right now! On TikTok, you’ll also get more snippets of my everyday writing life and lifestyle/fashion content. See you there!
other stories i’m loving 📖
currently reading:
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
currently watching:
Phineas and Ferb, S5
currently listening to:
“Guy’s Girl” by Alemeda
all my love,
sofía xx