Reviews
Aesthetically pleasing and politically defiant... undeniably heartfelt
Wasafiri Magazin
I loved the linguistic agility of Holy Boys... a delicious treat for the senses
BBC Radio Scotland
Linguistically rich and stylistically innovative, it is a lush and sensual offering that charts a queer coming of age
Sunday Post
There is a hopefulness and joy that permeates the book as a whole and ensures that while established fans of Ordorica will find new things to enjoy here, new readers will also be left wanting more
Gutter Magazine, Book of the Month
Written with a mastery of language and imagery, and displaying a sensuality which is palpable, Holy Boys is an exquisite and often heady collection of poetry from a writer who continues to explore and dig deep into what it means to be alive
The Skinny
Holy Boys is a formally innovative and beautifully meditative collection that is both dynamic and full of heart
Alycia Pirmohamed
Spectral, melodic, quietly forceful like the sea . . . This is a tender and vivid collection
Nina Mingya Powles
Holy Boys is an exquisite and exceptional collection, and I highly recommend you read it, treasure it and share it
Salena Godden
Ordorica's poems look past mere survival and fold the whole of his story into a determined and optimistic present
Marjorie Lotfi
About the Book
Shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize.
Holy Boys seeks to address the lingering echoes of adolescence and the pains of living a life in the shadows of unspeakable desires and all-consuming longing. These poems are a means of finding language in youth, gathering experience in pubescence, and serving as testament to survival in a world that demands silences throughout queer life.
These poems are an archive which maps physical desire and emotional needs while pushing past dogma and self-hating. They are a means of naming the many lovers and loved ones who have helped move the speaker from boyhood into manhood. This is a collection that is informed by faith, sexuality, loss and love, a celebration of the growing pains that eventually allow us to unfurl into whole beings.
The Author
Andrés N. Ordorica
Andrés N. Ordorica (He/him) is a queer Latinx writer based in Edinburgh. Drawing on his family’s immigrant history and third culture upbringing, his writing maps the journey of diaspora and unpacks what it means to be from ni de aquí, ni de allá (neither here, nor there). He is the author of the poetry collection At Least This I Know and novel How We Named the Stars. He has been shortlisted for the Morley Lit Prize, the Mo Siewcharran Prize and the Saltire Society’s Poetry Book of The Year. In 2024, he was selected as one of the Observer’s 10 Best Debut Novelists.
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