Cuéntame Literary Magazine was founded in 2024 by Yasmine Essence Soria and Kimberly Monserrat Vázquez, two Latina writers with the aching desire to read and see more work that was made for and by Latines.
This space is dedicated to cultivating a community without judgment or worry that your work’s meaning will be lost in translation. We want to be told the unapologetic histories, passions and stories that are the foundations of our lives. We embrace tradition—but we are not afraid to break it either. Cuéntame is a place to trade, discuss, develop, and reshape new and old ideas for the aspiring and inspiring writers and artists.
When establishing this as a bilingual magazine, we were inspired by Revisto Chicano-Riqueña, the first national magazine to publish US Latino Literature in Spanish. We could not create a Latino-based magazine and leave out a language we use to tell each other stories. We make a promise to you to keep the integrity of your work in the language it was written in.
Whether it be your first poem, your next essay, or the debut of artwork, we would love to have your next work find its home here.
This magazine is entirely volunteer-run. If you are able, please support the continuation of this magazine through the links below. We are unable to compensate our writers at this time but we hope to do so in the future!
About Us
Kimberly Vazquez (she/her) was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, a scorching-hot border town where absolutely nothing happens—but it remains a town on the cusp of endless potential. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a bachelor of arts degree in creative writing. Her collection of short pieces about the border-town experience, “Spare Parts,” was published in Allium, the college’s literary journal. As managing editor for the Columbia Chronicle, she edited stories in English and Spanish and cofounded the paper’s Spanish-language section. Kimberly aspires to work in the publishing industry.
Yasmine Essence Soria (she/her) is a Mexican-Honduran writer and photographer born, raised and based in the bustling city of Chicago. She received her BA in Creative Writing with a Minor in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, where she met Kimberly. She is published in Mystic Owl Magazine, Allium Literary Journal, and Same Faces Collective. Her aim is to create work to express core aspects of her identity while concentrating on creating new world perspectives. She is currently a freelance photographer seeking to break into the publishing industry.
Meet the Founders
