We asked the award-winning Mexican novelist Ave Barrera—whose latest book, The Forgery, has recently been translated into English—to recommend five classic Mexican novels. Here she discusses her choices, which include books by Juan Rulfo, Elena Garro and Nellie Campobello.

From the humorous and dark stories of a young V. S. Naipaul to recent coming-of-age novels, set in a cut-throat Jamaican holiday resort or American’s urban battlefields, Alexia Arthurs explores the myriad expressions of Caribbean identity in fiction

The Latin American holiday commemorating dead relatives is characterised by altars decorated with skulls and marigolds, explains Regina Marchi, author of a book on how the festival has now migrated to the American mainstream.

In 2011, two years before his death, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos told us about books that evoke the land of his parents, from a noirish take on contemporary Havana to the cabaret scene of pre-Castro Cuba

Political scientist Patricio Navia discusses how the identity of Latin America is inextricably bound up with its colonial history, why Latin American voters elect left-wing leaders, and how social inclusion is necessary for Latin America to realise its full potential

From magical realism to political upheaval, John King, Professor Emeritus at Warwick University, recommends five essential works of Latin American fiction – and reveals what Jorge Luis Borges was like in person.

U.S. government adviser and Dean of the American University School of Public Affairs leads a book-bound tour that takes us from the Bacardi dynasty in Cuba to American military interventions in Central America

Professor James Dunkerley at Queen Mary’s, University of London, says that ‘Latin America’ is a term that only dates from the 1830s. He chooses five books that illuminate the cultural and political history of the continent.

The acclaimed Haitian author chooses five must-reads from the riches of Haitian literature – including 19th-century poems by a ruler’s daughter.

The former Rio de Janeiro bureau chief for the New York Times, Larry Rohter, discusses five books that explore the strain of tragedy lurking just beneath Brazil’s ‘happy’ image.

The author and academic says the global financial meltdown has shattered the apparently sophisticated, but in fact conceptually hollow, foundations upon which “self-regulated” markets were built

From two 19th century journals, to historical fiction, to reportage on Jamaicans living in London in the 1950s to the island’s music, British travel writer Ian Thomson, author of The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica, recommends a broad range of books that shed light on Jamaica.

As a country that was created after the first and only successful slave revolt in history, Haiti looms large in the popular imagination. Here, Christian Wisskirchen, founding member and former chair of The Haiti Support Group, recommends five books that reveal much about Haiti and what makes it special, and its fascinating and often traumatic history since independence in 1804.

Journalist and author Chris Moss recommends books to help us understand the Argentine people and their mindset.

Explorer, film-maker and writer, Hugh Thomson, picks the best books on Mexico, from the revolution in 1910, to the conquistadors, to gold mines, to the fatalism of Mexico and more.

Marshalling one of the first ever televised coups, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s legacy is fraught. While some apologists try to justify the dictatorship on economic grounds, his time in office saw innumerable human rights abuses. Alan Angell, Emeritus Fellow in Latin American Politics at the University of Oxford, considers the regime of “a very cruel man.”

The respected author and prominent Hispanist examines the history and people of The Andes. Selects and reviews five great reads, including classics from Isherwood and Hemming

People see in pirates what they want to see, says historian and author Adrian Tinniswood. He recommends five fascinating books about pirates.