Dodici Azpadu is a gender queer person of color (American born-Sicilian-Arab). Their creative palette always includes sexism/gender issues, BIPOC, class consciousness, and race/ethnicity dynamics. Their novel LIVING ROOM was a finalist for a Lammy, a Golden Crown Literary Award, and the NM Book Award for Fiction. Other fiction includes TRACES OF A WOMAN and PORTRAIT BEYOND THE FRAME. They recently retired from teaching at the University of New Mexico and currently lives with their spouse in New Mexico.
DEAD OF WINTER
Released April 2025
Accustomed to an East Coast multi-racial and multi-lingual environment, Santa Soriano arrives in predominately white Heartland heartbroken and jobless, hoping to rebuild her life in a women-centered community. With each episode and relationship, Santa struggles with ethics and politics. She encounters criticism for acting alone to redress a racial incident. At her dismal factory job, she makes a friend who becomes the victim of a murder-suicide. She helps care for a neglected child; resists the opening of a porn shop; buys guns; and deals with a restaurant owner who rapes the waitresses who work for him. This is a cautionary tale about the underbelly of the women’s movement circa 1970s.
Dead of Winter is available in paperback and eBook formats through Amazon’s Bookstore.