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As Malcriadas: Or Names We Inherit
"As Malcriadas or Names We Inherit is a working-class, Azorean-American, roller derby, grunge rock bildungsroman focused on a small group of flannel-clad friends growing up in an industrial East Coast mill town.
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"What happens when the band falls apart at the very moment it's about to make it big? Carlo Matos, in his tender yet unflinching novel, As Malcriadas, explores the aftermath of the dream's fragmentation. Yet he manages to find beauty in its pieces. With language as polished and sharp as a fine-bladed sword, we see—with clarity—the sadness, joy, pain, and love that lingers in the ruins."
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— Giano Cromley, author of The Prince of Infinite Space and The Last Good Halloween
"Carlo Matos is that rarest of talents, a pugilistic poet. In his glorious novel, a merry band of malcriadas—neighborhood brats—lunge and strut and canoodle through the decades. But then our author blindsides us in ways we never see coming. He reminds us that while a best defense is a good offense, each of our insolents will end up clinging to a far greater truth: the messiest and most absurd ambushes can also … save."
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— Michele Merens, author of Inside Our Days
About the Author
Carlo Matos has published eleven books, including We Prefer the Damned (forthcoming Unbound Edition Press) and The Quitters (Tortoise Books). He has also co-edited an anthology titled, Writers of the Portuguese Diaspora in the United States and Canada. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in such journals as DMQ Review, Rhino, Diagram, and Hobart, among many others. He has received grants and fellowships from Disquiet ILP (Portugal), CantoMundo, the Illinois Arts Council, the Sundress Academy for the Arts, and the La Romita School of Art (Italy). His work has won the Heartland Poetry Prize, been nominated for a Pushcart and several Best of the Nets, and entered into consideration for the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. He is a founding member of the Portuguese-American literary collective Kale Soup for the Soul. He currently lives in Chicago, IL, where he is a professor of writing at the City Colleges of Chicago.