Andreea Tint
University of Glasgow
Books That Feel Like Home: Exploring Multilingual Identities Through Contemporary Latinx Literature in the United States
This research aims to examine how multilingualism presents itself in the literature produced
by multilingual authors with a focus on bilingual Spanish-English Latinx writers in the United
States. It will do so by analysing the published works of a number of contemporary authors
from several distinct Latinx communities (Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, etc.) as well as
conducting semi-structured interviews with said authors. The aim of text analysis is to discover
how bilingualism is reflected in their creative work, whether through specific linguistic
markers, the use of hybrid forms of writing or other ways, while semi-structured interviews
will provide the space to discuss the authors’ motivations and experiences of language.
Moreover, by looking at the written narratives produced by bilingual Latinx writers in the
United States, this research will also address themes of identity formation, migration and
immigration, language discrimination and hegemony, translation and self-translation, as well
as the role literature plays in fostering a sense of community belonging. Potentially, this
research can offer further insight into literary representation in the United States as well as the
relationship between multilingual texts, their authors and their readers. It can have implications
for school level education in increasingly multilingual communities, approaches to creative
writing teaching, migration theories, and also provide a basis for further studies looking into
different literary mediums produced by the Latinx community, such as spoken word poetry, or
studies using reader-response theory to specifically investigate the readership for bilingual
literature.