Algarabía by Roque Raquel Salas Rivera

Algarabía

The Song of Cenex, Natural Son of the Isle Alarabíyya / La Canción De Cenex, Hijo Natural De La Ínsula Alarabíyya

Roque Raquel Salas Rivera

Graywolf · Print & ebook · September 2, 2025

A Puerto Rican trans epic that blends poetic play and speculative fiction, by a Lambda Literary Award winner Algarabía follows Cenex, a trans being who narrates his life while navigating the stories told on his behalf.

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
Cenex narrates a trans life across speculative worlds and stories told on his behalf.
Themes
Trans identity, Colonial literary erasure, Speculative fiction
Genres
LGBTQ+ Poetry, Hispanic American Poetry, Epic Poetry

About this book

A Puerto Rican trans epic that blends poetic play and speculative fiction, by a Lambda Literary Award winner Algarabía follows Cenex, a trans being who narrates his life while navigating the stories told on his behalf. An inhabitant of a colony of Earth in a parallel universe, Cenex leads us through his years as an experimental subject, a stay in suburbia, and not-so-far-off lands as he struggles to find a name, a body, and a stable home.

Continue reading

His song clashes variegated sources with work by cis writers on trans figures, referencing everything from Clueless to Taino cosmology within a single line. Algarabía inscribes an origin narrative for trans people in the face of their erasure from colonial and anti-colonial literary canons, laughing at its own survival with sharp, unserious rage. Una epopeya puertorriqueña trans que mezcla poesía y narrativa especulativa, por un ganador del Premio Lambda Algarabía sigue a Cenex, un ser trans que narra su vida retrospectivamente mientras navega por las historias contadas en su nombre. Habitante de una colonia de la Tierra en un universo paralelo, Cenex nos conduce a través de sus años como sujeto experimental, una estancia suburbana, unas tierras no tan lejanas y su lucha por encontrar un cuerpo y un hogar estables. Su canto enfrenta textos de escritores cis sobre figuras trans con una variedad de fuentes, haciendo referencia a Clueless y a la cosmología taína dentro de un mismo verso. Algarabía inscribe un mito fundacional para las personas trans frente a su exclusión de los cánones literarios coloniales y anticoloniales y se ríe de su propia supervivencia con una rabia pícara y aguda.

Cenex’s Many Sources

Cenex narrates a trans life across speculative worlds and stories told on his behalf.

Come here for

  • Cenex’s search for a name, a body, and a stable home
  • References ranging from Clueless to Taíno cosmology

Expect

  • Poetic play blended with speculative fiction
  • An origin narrative confronting trans erasure from colonial and anti-colonial canons

Where it sits

LGBTQ+ Poetry68%
Epic Poetry43%
Hispanic American Poetry40%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Hispanic American Poetry
  • Caribbean & Latin American Poetry
  • Epic Poetry
Authors
Roque Raquel Salas Rivera
Publisher
Graywolf
Published
September 2, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Trans identity · Colonial literary erasure · Speculative fiction
Reading lane
Hispanic American Poetry