Welcome to another issue of Bookstagrammer of the Week! Today, I want to introduce you to my friend and fellow Tampeño, Carmen Alvarez — also known within the Instagram community as tomesandtextiles. Beyond the realm of Instagram, Carmen has been making her voice heard, volunteering on the Hillsborough County Public Library Board. As Florida has been a hot spot of vicious book bans, Carmen has built a strong advocacy on spreading awareness of book-related topics, especially raising Latinx voices within the publishing field.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Carmen in a cafe in the Historic Ybor City District of Tampa back in July, where we spent a lovely lunch discussing everything from the history of the Latinx community in Florida to book recommendations from our favorite new authors. When I joined Bookstr as an outreach coordinator and editorial writer, Carmen was the first Bookstagrammer I wanted to reach out to, due to her passion for the literary world, her sharp fashion sense (which I shamelessly want to steal), and the welcoming comfort of holding a discussion with her. The following interview details her perspectives on Bookstagrammer life.
INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | GOODREADS
Thank you, Carmen, for accepting my invitation for this interview. Let’s begin!
Why did you start your Bookstagram?
It’s been a JOURNEY! I started my Bookstagram to talk about YA books with my book bestie. When she moved on, I had a choice, do I give up or continue on? At the time, I’d just started working on my book photo (remember when that was a thing?) editing skills, so I decided to stay a little longer and continue to be in the Bookstagram space, and seven years later, here I am, a full-time book influencer shouting out Latinx books daily.
What do you want your Instagram to bring to the world?
My Bookstagram exists as a resistance against the 6% representation in traditional publishing and even sparser marketing budgets for Latinx authors and their books. I celebrate my culture as told through the myriad of stories shared in Latinx books.
Fun Fact about you:
I have been into modular origami since high school and love making complex little boxes and other multi-sided objects.
Favorite Bookstagrammers:
- Robin @cozyinthenook: for horror recs and AMAZING photography. Robin also happens to be one of the best humans on the planet as well.
- Adri @perpetualpages: a Booktuber who also has the talent to be a Bookstagrammer and offers eloquent reviews and bombastic roundups.
- Carla @carla_is_reading: Carla is the diverse romance rec QUEEN! She keeps so many amazing romance books on my TBR and is just the most amazing person who teaches me so much.
- Olivia & Fiona from @adastra_stories: They’re incredibly thoughtful book recommendations and informative reels are constantly teaching and guiding my activism.
- Rachel from @Readswithrachel: Rachel is a tireless advocate against book banning, as well as an A++++ book reviewer on BookTube. She is fearless and outspoken every single day
- Amanda from @Amandasbrews: Amanda co-runs the bookish brews podcast and is constantly advocating for abolition. I’m inspired by her every single day.
- Andrea @pagecactus: Andrea is one of those Bookstagrammer whose every review and story inspires me, whether it be to pick up a book or to try something new. She’s truly an inspiration.
Favorite Books and Authors:
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia
- They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraquib
- Oye by Melissa Mogollon
- The House of The Spirits by Isabel Allende
- The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Fictional Crush:
Hun-Kame from Gods of Jade and Shadow — who doesn’t love a taciturn God of Death figuring out the mortal world while slowly becoming human?
TBR List:
It’s entirely too long and embarrassing to list! Books I’m looking forward to reading this fall are The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo, We Need No Wings by Ann Davila Cardinal, Alter Ego by Alex Segura and finishing Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera
What’s Your Special Approach to Content?
For photos, I love to recreate the aesthetic of the book cover or something I really loved about the book. For video content, I just like to remove the filter and distance of photos and just be myself, whether I am dancing to celebrate New Book Tuesdays or lovingly reviewing a book sitting in front of my bookshelves. I used to be afraid to not highly curate the social media space, but now I really embrace being myself.
How often do you post?
I post daily, sometimes multiple times a day, but I have learned to take breaks to rest and for my mental health as needed.
What does your Bookstagram mean to you?
My Bookstagram is very personal to me. I was a kid who didn’t embrace my Cuban identity nor my first language, Spanish. Over the years, I’ve learned my culture’s importance and significance to my family, and it trickled down to me in the public Bookstagram space where I have proudly grown into my Latinx identity.
Favorite Bookstore:
I have visited and loved so many bookstores across the country, but I call Tomobolo Books my home bookstore. I co-run a monthly romance book club there and attend so many amazing and diverse author events they host. Tomobolo is more than a bookstore. It’s a community.
Who would you have supply you with a lifetime of books:
There’s no doubt about it: Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Author to take a selfie with:
I’d love to have a selfie with Elizabeth Acevedo. I’ve been admiring her work for too long and have been to too many events to not have met her yet.
Favorite book cover:
I’m a Libra, so this is impossible, but right now? It’s the ICONIC The Seventh Veil of Salome cover for Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest historical fiction.
When did you know you had made it as a Bookstagrammer?
To me, “making it” implies I’ve reached a pinnacle, but there are still so many things left I want to accomplish in the bookish space for me to say I’ve made it. There are signs I’m headed in the right direction, though, that keep me motivated moving along in my journey–getting to interview Silvia Moreno-Garcia in person last week, being quoted in Rolling Stone, and something that dropped in my inbox earlier this week that I can not wait to SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS.
Advice for aspiring Bookstagrammers:
I can not express this strongly enough — you have to be in love with your content and NOT trying to please the algorithm. I’ve seen so many people lose sight of this and become disillusioned and burned out with Bookstagram over the years. I promise you, if you love what you do and post when you feel like, your people will find you, regardless of what the algorithm serves you.
The Bookstr community wants to express our warmest gratitude for the important social media awareness Carmen is bringing to the entire literature community. While Florida and the rest of the country has been ravished by an unfair and dangerous rhetoric suppressing minority voices trying to shed light on their narratives, Carmen offers an illuminating discourse to raise up the literary voices.
For more Latinx author recommendations, click this link!
For our Hispanic/Latinx Recommendations: Bedtime Stories, Poetry, and Novels bookshelf on Bookshop.org, click here!
