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Inspired by real-life, My Father Called Us Monkeys, is a series of linked short stories about Marco, a Mexican American boy coming of age in a blue-collar and predominately white Midwestern town in 1969. His family consists of an older father, a railroad mechanic who often unabashedly calls his children monkeys; a devoted mother who works in a toy factory; a strong-willed, competitive younger sister; an older, maternal sister about to graduate from high school; and Marco, an inquisitive boy who grapples to understand the adult world. In this collection, there are stories about friendships and living with white neighbors, school days, and interactions and conflicts with extended family. Some of the stories are informed by the Vietnam War, the Apollo Space Program, and the Civil Rights Movement.Mario Duarte is a Mexican American poet and fiction writer whose family has lived in the Midwest for over a century. He grew up in Western Illinois and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of New Hampshire. He lives in Iowa City. His poems and short stories have appeared in American Poetry Review, Arkana, Digging Through the Fat, Emerald City, Ocotillo Review, Pank, Rigorous, Write Launch, and other magazines. His micro-poetry collection To the Death of the Author was published by La Resistencia Press.
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Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave Ste S1,Des Moines,IA,United States
