Providing a close examination of Herrera in all his poetic variety, “Our book stands out as the first critical collection of this outstanding and internationally known writer,” Lomelí said.

Moving through five parts across 472 pages, the book includes critical essays on Herrera’s poetics, in-depth analysis of his innovative and experimental approaches, discussion of his children’s and young adult books, insightful interviews and an extensive bibliography. 

“Herrera is as generous as he is prolific,” Gómez said. “When he is not writing or researching for a new book project, he is most likely assisting upcoming writers who are members of underrepresented communities to amplify their artistic expression. Through this act of service, generosity and empathy, he has found a strong communal source for resilience explored in all his writings. To him, like many other writers of this uncertain and violent era, writing is an opportunity to come together, conjoining experiences and finding a healing agency in the collective.”

In 2022, Lomelí and UCSB colleague Marc García-Martínez won an International Latino Book Awards silver medal for “A Critical Collection on Alejandro Morales: Forging an Alternative Chicano Fiction” (University of New Mexico Press, 2021).

“I’m ecstatic that I have won in two consecutive years for these books that represent a tremendous amount of work and collaboration by recruiting dozens of leading experts to write critical studies on the respective authors,” Lomelí said. “We tried to also emphasize an international focus on the critics we recruited.”