Books

Funeral for Flaca

WINNER OF THE 2022 PACIFIC NORTHWEST BOOK AWARD

BRONZE MEDAL WINNER, 2021 FOREWORD INDIES BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS FOR ESSAYS

HONORABLE MENTION, 2022 INTERNATIONAL LATINO BOOK AWARDS FOR FIRST BOOK

FINALIST, 2021 BIG OTHER BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION & 2021 FOREWARD INDIES BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS FOR MULTICULTURAL NONFICTION


Funeral for Flaca is an exploration of things lost and found—love, identity, family—and the traumas that transcend bodies, borders, cultures, and generations.

Emilly Prado retraces her experience coming of age as a prep-turned-chola-turned-punk in this collection that is one-part memoir-in-essays, and one-part playlist, zigzagging across genres and decades, much like the rapidly changing and varied tastes of her youth. Emilly spends the late 90’s and early aughts looking for acceptance as a young Chicana growing up in the mostly-white suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Portland, Oregon in 2008. Ni de aquí, ni de allá, she tries to find her place in the in between. She captures the painful reality of what it means to lose and find your identity, many times over again. For anyone who has ever lost their way as a child or as an adult, Funeral for Flaca unravels the complex layers of an unpredictable life, inviting us into an intimate and honest journey profoundly told with humor and heart. (Future Tense Books, July 2021) | Media kit | Recent press and excerpts


“Utterly vulnerable, bold, and unique” —Ms. Magazine

Funeral For Flaca’s precise, funny, and heartfelt essays tell the story of a brown girl in white suburbia, an American girl in Mexico, and a skinny girl who never feels skinny enough… Make sure to blast the playlist and pour one out for Emilly Prado’s gorgeous debut.” —Bitch Media


Emilly is available for speaking engagements, workshops, readings, book club visits, and more. Learn more here or email her. Photo by Justin Katigbak.

Examining Assimilation

Emilly’s first book was a nonfiction work at the intersections of identity and U.S. history for youth audiences grades 7-12. The book broke down complex concepts like assimilation, culture, and acculturation through various lens and in digestible snippets for young audiences. The book was part of a Racial Literacy series. “Did you know that the United States has the highest immigrant population in the world? You may have heard the phrase, We are a nation built by immigrants, but that saying doesn’t tell the full story. Students will examine this popular phrase by retracing the immigrant journey within the United States and investigating the concept of cultural assimilation. What does it mean to be American? As the United States continues to grow and change, students can become better-informed citizens by looking at the immigrant experience and understanding the roots of American identities.” (Enslow Publishing, June 2018) | See the book on Amazon