The Importance of a Piece of Paper: Stories

“In Jimmy Santiago Baca’s haunting story collection, intricate family dramas … play out against the luminous, wide-open backdrop of New Mexico. ” —Los Angeles Times

In his first foray into short fiction, award-winning poet and memoirist Jimmy Santiago Baca explores the territory where old-world traditions meet new-world ambitions, and characters try to make something of themselves, while keeping their souls intact. In “Matilda’s Garden, ” an old farmer pines for his wife of fifty years who died in her sleep one-night months before. He is lured to the garden in the middle of the night by what he thinks is her presence, only to meet a gruesome fate. In “The Importance of a Piece of Paper, ” two siblings must face the brother who has betrayed them by selling his share of the family land, leaving an entire community vulnerable. In “The Three Sons of Julia, ” a long-suffering mother whose one request is that all her sons come home for the Fourth of July, watches her dream burst as two of her sons—one a successful businessman and the other a hard-drinking ex-con—nearly destroy her house, and each other. Merging a refreshing innocence with a profound understanding of the world’s brutality, The Importance of a Piece of Paper is a daring and arresting work that is at once fearless, tender, and inspiring.

“Baca continues to mine his experience, exploring conflicts between the rich traditions of Chicano culture and a modern world impatient with them. ” —Entertainment Weekly

“Inspirational, tragic, and redeeming … Baca provides moving poetic imagery and unleashes his gift for finely crafted sensory detail. ” —Rocky Mountain News

© 2007 Grove Press (Ebook): 9781555848910

Release date

Ebook: December 1, 2007