Upcoming books by Mexican poet or Leon Uris novel (5)

I believe the answer is:

topaz

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'leon uris novel' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'upcoming books by mexican poet' is the wordplay.
'upcoming' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue coming up is backwards).
'books' becomes 'OT' (abbreviation for Old Testament).
'by mexican poet' becomes 'paz' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ot' written backwards gives 'to'.
'to'+'paz'='TOPAZ'

'or' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for topaz that I've seen before include "South American hummingbird" , "Shade of yellow -- gem" , "Semi-precious stone of various colours, especially yellow" , "Type of gemstone" , "White/colourless mineral used as a gemstone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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