About Me

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Free time activities: Writing and reading (fiction, memoirs, essays, poetry), enjoying my grandchildren, singing (though I can’t sing), dancing (salsa, bomba, reggaeton, African-American line dancing, African), drumming (Puerto Rican bomba).

Favorite Music: Everything from Contemporary Christian to all genres of Puerto Rican music, some 

Free time activities: Writing and reading (fiction, memoirs, essays, poetry), enjoying my grandchildren, singing (though I can’t sing), dancing (salsa, bomba, reggaeton, African-American line dancing, African), drumming (Puerto Rican bomba).

Favorite Music: Everything from Contemporary Christian to all genres of Puerto Rican music, some rock to 50’s rock-n-roll, 60’s - 70’s soul, 80’s (Prince!), 90’s (neo-soul, early hip-hop), Chicago House, Selena, some rap, classical… the list is endless. I must have music playing ALL the time.

Favorite Snack: Again, the list is endless. I have a sweet tooth (Raisinettes, Sno-Caps, Reese’s, caramel popcorn, Taffy apples—with peanuts of course), but I also like fruit (but only when it’s really sweet and cold) like mangos, watermelon, cantaloupes, quenepas, grapes, and I’m afraid of going to the dentist.

What I’m Reading: What Wela Left Me by Faith Marie; When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez (re-read); Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist At Work by Edwidge Dandicat, Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, What Happened To Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez, Diary Of Anne Frank by Anne Frank (re-read), Crying In The Bathroom by Erika Sanchez

All-time favorite book: That’s hard, so many… but I’d have to say Sisterby A. Manette Ansay, Drown by Junot Diaz, and most recently, Know My Name by Chanel Miller.

What people don’t know about me: They will never know. I believe in keeping some things a mystery.

What I’m working on right now: My first young adult novel.

Pet Peeves:  The list is long: People who use the “n” word, people who are consistently late, parents who don’t supervisor their kids, litterers, people who enter elevators/buses etc. before others exit, drivers who don’t use turn signals or give other drivers a break, bikers who don’t stop at signs/lights. 

Religion / Spiritual Beliefs: God is my Father and in control of my destiny; though I do not understand a lot of things, especially the evil in this world, I believe there is a purpose for it all and we are not meant to know everything.

Future Goals: Yet another endless list… To publish all of my works-in-progress, take regular yoga classes, get regular massages, master bombadrumming and dancing, make enough money so I don’t have to work 9-5 and pay off my mortgage and bills, start a non-profit writing and publishing organization for aspiring Puerto Rican writers, be the best grandmother ever, and go to the dentist (smile – before I can’t smile anymore).

My work documents the AfriLatino perspective and experience, a segment of the Latino Diaspora that is often overlooked. AfriLatinos are often left out of fashion magazines, TV shows, and the literary world. When they are featured, they are negative portrayals, an afterthought, or minor characters. The "ideal" Latina/o is almost always fai

My work documents the AfriLatino perspective and experience, a segment of the Latino Diaspora that is often overlooked. AfriLatinos are often left out of fashion magazines, TV shows, and the literary world. When they are featured, they are negative portrayals, an afterthought, or minor characters. The "ideal" Latina/o is almost always fair-skinned with European features, or mestizo/mulatto, representing their mixed ancestry, but rarely dark-skinned/kinky-haired, celebrating the African influence. Growing up, the erasure of AfriLatinos in the media and literature was so prevalent that I had no choice but to gravitate toward African American films, magazines and books. It is my goal to dispel longstanding myths with the way Latinos, but especially AfriLatinos, are portrayed in all kinds of media, but particularly in literature. By focusing on AfriLatino characters, I celebrate their importance and inclusivity in the larger Latino world.

 Xenia Ruiz is an AfriBoriquena (Puerto Rican AfriLatina), Chicago-born writer and poet, raised in the predominantly-Puerto Rican Humboldt Park community. She is the author of Choose Me (2005), Boricua Morena: Memoirs of a Humboldt Park Girl (2006), and Humboldt Park Days (2021). She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Northeaste

 Xenia Ruiz is an AfriBoriquena (Puerto Rican AfriLatina), Chicago-born writer and poet, raised in the predominantly-Puerto Rican Humboldt Park community. She is the author of Choose Me (2005), Boricua Morena: Memoirs of a Humboldt Park Girl (2006), and Humboldt Park Days (2021). She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Northeastern Illinois University. She has been a featured writer/poet at many Chicago-area venues and public schools, and most recently, she was a finalist in the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards. AfriBoriquena: Confessions of a Kinky-Haired Latina is her latest publication. She is currently at work on several writing projects, and still lives near Humboldt Park.