Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a Mexican poet, born in the 17th century. She was so determined to live a literary life, she gave up her freedom and became a nun, just so she could spend her days writing. What other literary lessons can we learn from this iconic writer, feminist, and literary ancestor?

In this week’s BIPOC Book News column, we have updates on new releases, the National Book Awards, the Book Sanctuary Movement, book-to-movie adaptations, and more. It’s all your book news and publishing tea from a BIPOC perspective.