Gente, Folks by Norman Antonio Zelaya
"Norman Antonio Zelaya characters soar to life in Gente, Folks, prose stories that create a vibrant chorus of voices that illuminate San Francisco’s Mission District, a neighborhood rich in history and culture, violence and loss, love and solidarity. Zelaya shows us a world where everyday survival is foremost, and where family and community come not only from the heart, but from the soul. A wonderful new book by a talented writer."
— Gail Tsukiyama - author of The Samurai's Garden and The Color of Air.
“Norman Antonio Zelaya's stories are testimonials to the spirit of San Francisco's Mission District against the grinding forces of gentrification. In Zelaya's poetry-like prose, brief encounters on Muni or in the laundromat or on the playground take on almost mystical significance. Reading Gente, Folks is like walking through time, simultaneously visiting with the ghosts of the Mission past, present, and--with hope--future.”
—May-lee Chai, author of Useful Phrases for Immigrants: Stories and Dragon Chica.
“Zelaya is writing about people in the Mission even God stopped thinking about. Youth, youngsters, and Gente, “stooped, moving quick, mechanical. Hardly seen,” are magnified in these stories that leap off the page like sheet music and become audible in your ear. You wanna get up and hear the señoras and the doñas captured so pitch perfectly by this author. Zelaya is writing about a Mission District in danger of disappearing. Imagine a barrio whose football field is 15 yards too short and doesn’t even have an endzone. Imagine this gente still building community around that field, still hungry to play, and to score. I have long been in awe of Zelaya’s ear and how he has kept it fixed on the people of his neighborhood. The heartbeat of La Mision is in this collection, to be sure. The text and its people call on you to slow your roll, get on your knees, put your head on the sidewalk, and listen.”
— Joseph Rios, author of Shadowboxing: Poems and Impersonations (Omnidawn, winner 2018 American Book Award)