190+ Latinx Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for exciting new stories by Latinx authors? Look no further — these stories are a must-read for anyone hoping to learn more about Latin culture, or to become a patron of its freshest voices.

🏆 Winning stories

“The Ungentling” by Katy B

🏆 Winner of Contest #204

Bill’s disappeared upstairs with the little sickly girl but me I’m here to see the blind woman. I hear she did it on purpose, tore donkey tail out of the earth and smeared its milky sap directly in her eyes. It must of stung her hands and face bad and maybe left marks on her fingers. Near Santa Fe, men, women and children are always getting possessed of this sort of ecstasy and seem like taking pleasure in swallowing poison and fire and stepping on scorpions and suchlike. But it ain’t superstition like the government try to tell me in the la...

86 likes 80 comments 80

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“Kiss of the Snake” by Zilla Babbitt

🏆 Winner of Contest #36

Yellow Day Today is a yellow day. The sunlight sneaks in through the window, writhing on the floor like a snake. Outside, the leafy pecan tree shakes in the wind. To be honest, I do not write. When I do, it is facts and information. In the city I did not have time for poetry or pretty words. No one wanted pretty words or expected it of me. But now, alone with the cold stone and cold yellow light and snakes made from the sun, I have time. I can hear humming in the restless air. The entire compound is apprehensive. It is because we are expecti...

285 likes 132 comments 132

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“Underneath Fernando” by Sophie Goldstein

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #256

Ricardo followed Jorge reluctantly up the stairs to their section of the stands. Jorge turned to Ricardo, saw the expression on his face and rolled his eyes. “Why did you say yes to this if that’s how you’re going to look?” Jorge asked. “For the free booze and hot dogs,” Ricardo responded dryly. Jorge shook his head but said nothing. They got to their seats and Ricardo looked out at the field. Night games were admittedly somewhat magical. He didn’t know why, but it felt otherworldly. Like the teams and the crowd were momentarily thrust into ...

23 likes 18 comments 18

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“Love in the Time of Asthma” by Katy B

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #210

The mask swam elephantine and bug-eyed in the dark glass. After several years of passing the auto shop, whose empty windows were the only ones between the drilling fields and the motel left unboarded, Tommy still struggled to recognize the reflection as his own. He stopped absently to observe himself. It was dawn. The sun pink as a freshly peeled blister behind its film of dust cast downtown into streaks of gray shadow and warbled rose. It accentuated the muffled slurp of the mask, the clouds of dirt rising from the shuffle of what feet...

28 likes 26 comments 26

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“Today is Going to be a Good Day” by Isabella Clementina Olmedo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #203

The smell of fried dough reaches the upstairs washroom where I run my fingers through my curls. My stomach grumbles, pleading for a bite. Today should be a good day. The sun is out but so is a cool breeze, so hopefully it won’t be too stuffy in the church. Grandma made her signature empanadas which are solely reserved for special occasions, and my older cousins aren’t allowed to pick on me today as per Grandma’s orders. Today was “too important” and Grandma didn’t want me crying because of my cousins’ jokes or shoves. They say people tend to...

21 likes 9 comments 9

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✍️ All stories

“working title and new emotions ” by Hillary Bejar

Submitted to Contest #276

One  The air grew heavy at the nursing home. People come in and out. The sound of the wheelchairs being spread and folded, footsteps and chatter. This air of movement and chaos never bothered me before, but on this particular day it was unbearable. My head was spinning, my throat felt warm and I had never long for the pricking ice cold air from winter. I thought I was coming down with something; a virus, the appendix, my brain has finally exploded with all my thinking.  I entered my boss's office and she greeted me with the usual a...

4 likes 1 comment 1

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“Erase the Past” by David Dean

Submitted to Contest #274

Jose Manganes, associate professor at Lima University on social anthropology, spoke to an attentive class of undergraduates,‘Good afternoon, everyone! Today, I want to pose a question that may seem bold, even a bit extreme: What if you, as budding scientists and thinkers, could invent a time machine with a singular mission—to go back and erase the Nazca lines from history? Now, this mission may sound drastic, even sacrilegious, but there are compelling, and very real, reasons that governments might find such an idea worth pursuing. So let’s ...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“Night Of The (Unfortunately) Living Clown ” by Xavi G. Xochi

Submitted to Contest #274

In all my twenty years of working at 7-11, I had never seen some shit like this. Seeing the reptilian-looking corporate owner in the scaly flesh came close. I hated that dude. Bro really filmed and sent me a mere dancing TikTok for my twentieth anniversary. Capitalism these days. However that worked. Anyway, it all started one night. During an overnight shift; which I always dreaded. There was nothing to do but ring up irregular customers. All night I’d have to put up with late night partiers, crackheads, sketchy soon-to-be serial killer dud...

1 like 0 comments 0

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“Take Your Mask Off” by Elise Marquez

Submitted to Contest #274

How can a child be so afraid that everyone around them was given a guide to life that they seemed to miss out on. Well that’s how it feels. As a child, everyone told me the way I acted was incorrect. I feared that at any moment, someone would catch me for being different from other people. I can’t read between the lines like others can. I sometimes forget what to do in social situations. I say the wrong thing.  As a child, I feared being disliked. I feared doing or saying the wrong thing. I masked the parts of myself that others might n...

8 likes 1 comment 1

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“Petrichor Enchantment” by Ana Palacio

Submitted to Contest #272

Ever since I remembered, everything’s been different. Running away has become a daily occurrence. But as an adult, the only thing you can run away is from your own shame, agony, embarrassment. As I walk, the earth feels off: the damp dirt giving way under my feet; the bright, yellowing full moon; the muggy sky; even the clouds looked menacing. All my life, there’s been a crackling in the air, a tiny pinprick that ran goosebumps up my arms. But after the flashback, when the dam broke and released all those memories descending on me like a tsu...

13 likes 2 comments 2

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“La Mesa de Abuelita” by Dan Coglianese

Submitted to Contest #270

It was past 3am when Lucia awoke to a commotion in the kitchen. She went downstairs, drawn toward the sound of a wooden spoon scraping a pan. “Mateo, it’s after 3. What are you doing?” His dark hair hung in his eyes, and sweat beaded on his forehead. Mateo scraped the pan like he was angry. Drops of Madeira wine dappled the granite countertop next to the stove. Two tenderloin steaks sat on a plate next to a half dozen slices of foie gras on a paper towel. He added a cup of veal stock to the pan and said, “Come, darling. I want you to try t...

4 likes 0 comments 0

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“A Casual Look” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #264

Center your story around two people who meet at a wedding.A casual look, a little wink Can reveal just what you think …(The Six Teens, 1956) My name is Daniel Lassiter. Everybody calls me Dan. At least everybody did before the wedding. Since that episode, most people have put adjectives before my name with four letters. Still, it was the happiest day of my life and the strangest. All I did was answer the minister's question honestly. What was I supposed to do? Lie?I’m in my late twenties. I didn’t have a serious girlfriend. I didn’t have any...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Foe or Friend” by Ron Conte

Submitted to Contest #260

When someone yells "duck", one should lower his head, rather than turn around to see why he should duck! At least that is running through Doug's mind as he recalls the past few moments. Maybe he doesn't trust his classmate known as The Roach who yelled out that one word unexpectedly. Although the Roach and Doug have been classmates for almost half the school year, Doug keeps his distance from him. It was Doug's first year at a Catholic elementary school. He does not make friends easily. All his classmates have been together at the same sch...

4 likes 1 comment 1

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“From Shame to Desire ” by Elise Marquez

Submitted to Contest #258

I’d routinely go through my old belongings like clockwork. This time it was specifically because I’d be moving to New York for college soon. Birthday card after birthday card ranging from ages 13 to now 18. Never ending piles of letters from family members in Mexico. Papers thrown around my carpet floor catching lint have created a big wall around me from my hips to the ends of my feet. As I lifted one of the letters written by my grandma I saw it there, a strip of photo booth photos with a girl. In the photo I was around 14 years old and th...

7 likes 1 comment 1

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“The Janitor” by Zeeshan Mahmud

Submitted to Contest #257

[Note: Contains themes of gore, violence, inappropriate language, and substance abuse]Bus stopMario Perez always takes the 9:30 bus at 9 South down Prairie Blvd to work. He is a janitor at St. Ambrose Middle School and has been working for seven years without any raise or promotion. He makes minimum wage and manages to keep his nose above water. He waits for Rodriguez."You are late, man," Mario says as Rodriguez finally arrives.As he gets on the bus today, scans his bus pass from phone, and heads to the back, he notices three nuns on the sid...

7 likes 6 comments 6

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“Underneath Fernando” by Sophie Goldstein

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #256

Ricardo followed Jorge reluctantly up the stairs to their section of the stands. Jorge turned to Ricardo, saw the expression on his face and rolled his eyes. “Why did you say yes to this if that’s how you’re going to look?” Jorge asked. “For the free booze and hot dogs,” Ricardo responded dryly. Jorge shook his head but said nothing. They got to their seats and Ricardo looked out at the field. Night games were admittedly somewhat magical. He didn’t know why, but it felt otherworldly. Like the teams and the crowd were momentarily thrust into ...

23 likes 18 comments 18

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“The Lady in Blue” by Nita A Mozzi

Submitted to Contest #254

She woke up, letting out shaky breaths and clutching the sheets. As she wiped off the sweat from her forehead, she felt her legs bare and stared at the linen sheets splattered across the wooden floor. Her left arm reached for the empty side of the bed. “Andres must have left the house earlier to head to the capital for those signatures,” she thought. Catalina looked down at her belly and traced her fingers along its spherical shape. “Just a dream,” she muttered to herself, and she stood up to walk toward the dresser., the faint memory of the...

10 likes 5 comments 5

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“Ana Rosales” by Daniel Uhrlass

Submitted to Contest #254

Ana Rosales In a once quiet village in Oaxaca, the late afternoon sun sets, trucks amble in the dusty streets, feet stroll languidly, a feeling passing between brown faces of fatigue and the contentment of a workday done. Workers in jeans and boots, women in long skirts and scarves.  A group of teens take up space on the sidewalk of the main street. The young men are rugged, half-shaven, leaning on trucks and sidewalk railings. Showcase of strength and bravado. They tease, boast, threaten, and joke. A performance for the girls, themse...

6 likes 0 comments 0

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“A Plane Ride Away” by Miranda Verzola

Submitted to Contest #253

There’s a sigh at the other end of the phone. Silence stretches out over the three-thousand miles between us. “I’m sorry,” I say again. “I just can’t get on the plane tonight. There’s an emergency at work.”“I know emergencies. I’m a doctor,” he reminds me. A fact he never lets me forget. “And there are no emergencies in newspapers, Bea. There are only deadlines. It’s not like you go out in the field to write or photograph stories. You just sit in an office all day. You could do that anywhere. You could do that here.”“It’s different this time...

6 likes 1 comment 1

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“The Moments We Keep” by Sophie Goldstein

Submitted to Contest #253

Sol sat on one of the benches in front of her school, waiting for her mom to pick her up. It was 1pm. They’d had a half-day since the teachers had a conference from 2-6pm. Sol should’ve been happy. She loved half days for obvious reasons. But school, as short as it was, had been absolutely lousy. She spilled juice on her skirt before leaving the house and didn’t have time to change and her arch nemesis, Billy, had taken the opportunity to point it out every chance he got. “Look everyone! Sol pissed herself!” Sol of course got angry and denie...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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