In her debut collection of poems, ONE-BEDROOM SOLO (Fly by Night Press/A Gathering of the Tribes, 2011), Sheila Maldonado writes a personal city song. It rises from the rhythms of old masters, the visions of futurist females, and the humor of a declining generation. In the spaces between page and stage, laughter and despair, New York and Honduras, English and Spanish, this collection sings shifting ideas about self and home.

 Praise for one-bedroom solo:

In Sheila Maldonado’s work, it’s as if the great voices of Latin American poetry are speaking through a contemporary American woman and remixed to the beat of her own particular urban swagger and wit. It’s a song that can contain pop culture, social satire, linguistic high jinks, and a funky sense of form. Read this powerful and often hilarious book as a source of self-help to get you through the city’s frustrations. It will leave you refreshed, restored, and ready to “tear out a heart/ if you have to.    —Elaine Equi

If you’re ever lost in the beguiling and fractured translation of being Latin@ in America, Sheila Maldonado’s one-bedroom solo is just the book you need.  These poems bring you into a conversation that is drop-dead funny and cunningly tragic. Maldonado draws a self-portrait in an active mirror; an x-ray of love, despair, homeland, and good ol’ signifyin’.  One-bedroom solo is a memorable first collection.     —Willie Perdomo

Pushcart-nominated

NOMAA grant winner

Washington Heights bestseller

Download ONE-BEDROOM SOLO press release