Casa Luna Unshelved
by Melly Ramirez
Casa Luna Unshelved is the podcast companion to Casa Luna Books — a home for the stories, voices, and fights that don't always make it to the front table. Each episode, we dig into the world of Latine, BIPOC, and indie literature: the newest releases worth your time, the quiet gems getting passed over, and the real conversations happening around book bans and the fight to keep these stories on the shelf. You'll hear honest reviews and recommendations, chats with indie authors, and spotlights on the small bookish businesses keeping community-first storytelling alive — all from someone who reads (and sells) this stuff for a living. Pull up a chair under the moon. Let's talk about what we're reading, why it matters, and who's being left out of the conversation.
Episodes
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10. The Truth About Opening an Online Bookstore
When you buy a book from an indie bookshop, where does the money actually go? In this mini episode, which is also my first video episode, I turn the camera around and show you my side of the counter, real numbers and all. It cost me about $6K to open Casa Luna Books as an online-only shop. On a...
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9. When Sound Is Color: Nisha Srinivasa on Synesthesia, Heartbreak & Taking Your Voice Back
What if you could hear color? This week I sit down with Bay Area poet and educator Nisha Srinivasa, author of The Synesthete's Rainbow: Poetry in the Colors of Love. We talk about what synesthesia actually feels like, why she built a poetry collection that reads like a story, and why narrating…
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8. Starting a Latine Empowerment Brand: A small business journey with Haley Escamilla, founder of TwoandahalfStreet
This week we’re stepping a little outside the bookshelf. This show has always been about more than books. It’s about who gets to take up space and build something loud and unapologetic on their own terms. Melly sits down with Haley Escamilla, founder of Two and a Half Street, a Latina empowerment...
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Chapters of a Chicana: Betty Feregrino on Shame, Grace & Breaking the Cycle
⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses domestic violence, addiction, child sexual abuse, the loss of a parent, and childhood neglect. Take care of yourself. It's okay to come back to this one later. Some books you read. Some books read you. This week I sit down with Houston-born indie author...
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6. Picked Up by the Readers: Tanya Zuñiga on Indie Publishing, Identity & Leonora Guerrero
This week I'm joined by Tanya Zuñiga, author of Threads of Her Braid and The Reckoning of Leonora Guerrero. Tanya is a first-gen Latina from San Diego, a high school Spanish teacher at the same school she graduated from, and one of the most thoughtful indie authors on my shelves. We talk about…
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5. Language, Translation & Crossing Over in Literature with Nicole Sánchez Castillo
This episode is about language as a gatekeeper in publishing. I sit down with Nicole Sánchez Castillo, a Colombian writer and linguist from Cartagena de Indias. She's 25, has published six books, and her newest, The Wolf, the Lamb, and the Butcher, is her English-language debut. It's a collection...
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4. Amor En Páginas PR: How 2 Latina Women Plan to highlight Latine Romance in Publishing
We talk a lot on this show about what to read — but what happens after a book exists? Once it's written, published, and real, how does anyone actually find out about it? This week I'm pulling back a curtain I didn't fully understand myself until recently: the world of book publicity. I sat down...
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3. Let's Talk Spicy Books with Scarlett Chase
Guest: Scarlett Chase Scarlett Chase writes contemporary spicy romance across what she calls the Scarlett Chase Universe — RomComs, darker-themed stories, and everything in between, built around BIPOC leads, interracial relationships, and zero apology for the heat. In this episode, we talk about...
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2. Why is it so difficult to find Indie BIPOC stories and how you can help change that.
Last episode, we laid out the numbers — only 5% of widely read novels published between 1950 and 2018 were by BIPOC authors. So this episode picks up the harder question: if these stories aren't coming through traditional publishing, where do we actually find them? We're pulling back the curtain…
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1. The Ugly Truth About Diversity in Publishing
Did you know that only 5% of widely read novels from major publishers between 1950 and 2018 were written by BIPOC authors? Grab your cafecito and sit down for this one, because in this week's episode, we explore what it truly looks like for BIPOC authors in the publishing industry, how Indie...
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Welcome to Casa Luna Unshelved
Episode 0: Welcome to the Shelf Before we dive into books, guests, and everything in between, take five minutes to hear what is behind Casa Luna Unshelved. In this quick intro, I share why representation in literature matters so much, what pushed me to open Casa Luna Books, and what to expect…
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About this show
Casa Luna Unshelved is the podcast companion to Casa Luna Books — a home for the stories, voices, and fights that don't always make it to the front table. Each episode, we dig into the world of Latine, BIPOC, and indie literature: the newest releases worth your time, the quiet gems getting passed over, and the real conversations happening around book bans and the fight to keep these stories on the shelf.
You'll hear honest reviews and recommendations, chats with indie authors, and spotlights on the small bookish businesses keeping community-first storytelling alive — all from someone who reads (and sells) this stuff for a living.
Pull up a chair under the moon. Let's talk about what we're reading, why it matters, and who's being left out of the conversation.
Hosted by
Melly Ramirez