About The Book Club:

Welcome to The Poder Circle Book Club—a quarterly, themed book club that aims to spark and facilitate important discussion around our shared experiences, our unique stories, and the issues that affect our comunidad. As Poderistas, we want to show the world that libros by Latinas matter—that our words have Poder. As people, we come from a long tradition of storytellers whose words have sparked movements. We honor that tradition by uplifting Latina voices, deepening our understanding of the Latinx experience, facilitating discussion, and inspiring action through words with impact. 

 

What To Expect:

There is no cost to join, all you have to do is subscribe to The Poder Circle Book Club list! Once signed up, you’ll receive:

  • bi-monthly Poder Circle Book Club emails
  • Exclusive Poder Circle Book Club content
  • Invitations to private events including virtual discussions with authors & the Poder Circle community
  • Quarterly discussion guides
  • Plus surprise appearances, giveaways y más

The theme of The Poder Circle Book Club is:

The Power of Becoming

This quarter, the Poder Circle Book Club is all about The Power of Becoming. Becoming is the slow, powerful work of growing into yourself. It is the courage to evolve, the willingness to question what you’ve inherited, and the quiet moments when you realize you are not the person you once were.

Becoming can look like healing from old wounds, choosing a life that finally feels true, or letting your imagination lead you into something new. It is shaped by the stories we carry, the love we fight for, and the choices that change us.Join us as we explore a story that reminds us how growth can be messy, surprising, and full of possibility. One page at a time, we’ll reflect on what it means to keep becoming, even when the world expects us to stay the same.

The Featured Selection

As we explore the theme of The Power of Becoming, we can’t think of a better book to read together than:

About The White Hot

The story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment—from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.

April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just…walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest—an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice.

The White Hot takes the form of a letter from mother to daughter about a moment of abandonment that would stretch from ten days to ten years—an explanation, but not an apology. Hudes narrates April’s story—spiritual and sexy, fierce and funny—with delicate lyricism and tough love. Just as April finds in her painful and absurd sojourn the key to freeing herself and her family from a cage of generational trauma, so Hudes turns April’s stumbling pursuit of herself into an unforgettable short epic of self-discovery.

About the author Quiara Alegría Hudes Quiara Alegría Hudes is the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Water by the Spoonful and the musical In the Heights, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and which she adapted for the screen. Her memoir, My Broken Language, was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Cut, The Nation, and American Theater Magazine. She is co-founder with her cousin Sean of the prison writing program Emancipated Stories. Learn More
“I read The White Hot in one sitting. Ruthless, visceral, immersive, uncompromising, and relentless, this is one of the most heartwrenching literary rides you will ever take in your life, the kind of book you will immediately want to buy for all the mothers and daughters in your life. It’s an extraordinary debut!” — Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana

Accessibility

We understand that times are tough for many and joining a book club is sometimes not within your budget. Poderistas wants to ensure we can make The Poder Circle Book Club accessible to amigas who have a financial need. To honor this, we have reserved a limited amount of books that are available on a first-come, first-served basis for those who have a need. Please email hola@poderistas.com with the email subject ‘Book Club Accessibility’ to request a copy. In your email, please include your name, mailing information, and the book you’re interested in.

Deep Dive

After reading our featured book, keep exploring the Poder Circle quarterly theme of The Power of Becoming with a curated selection of works created by Latinas coming soon!