Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Latinas Who Raise Us

From the author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, a celebration of the women at the heart of Latine families

Born into a large, close-knit family in Nicaragua, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez grew up surrounded by strong, kind, funny, sensitive, resilient, judgmental, messy, beautiful women. Whether blood relatives or chosen family, these tías and primas fundamentally shaped her view of the world--and so did the labels that were used to talk about them. The tía loca who is shunned for defying gender roles. The pretty prima put on a pedestal for her European features. The matriarch who is the core of her community but hides all her pain.

In Tías and Primas, the follow-up to her acclaimed debut For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, Mojica Rodríguez explores these archetypes. Fearlessly grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma, centuries of colonization, and sexism, she attempts to heal the pain that is so often embodied in female family lines.

Tías and Primas is a deeply felt love letter to family, community, and Latinas everywhere.

Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez is a leading Latine activist, writer, and speaker. She is the founder of Latina Rebels, a platform with over 350,000 followers, and the author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts. She has been featured on NPR, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Teen Vogue, and Cosmopolitan. She earned her master’s from Vanderbilt and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.