Hay que llegar
con Xavier Navarro Aquino, author of Velorio: A Novel
#NuevasPaginasconLupita is a space that is both an archive and resource aimed to "spotlight" Hispanic/Latinx/e authors with newly published books. The goal is to connect readers to new and/or old favorite Hispanic/Latinx/e authors and their books! So give this & every post a share to help us reach more readers!
How does it work?!
Here’s the deal, I came up with a set of casual/random/funny questions to ask each Hispanic/Latinx/e author I interview. For now, the questions will all be the same but maybe in the future I’ll launch this into more specific questions to the author or maybe I’ll turn this series into a mini-podcast or maybe……well, you get it! The possibilities are endless.
If you are new here don’t forget to check out all the other amazing interviews! We also have a really great line-up of guest authors coming up so make sure you don’t miss an interview by subscribing now!
Hey Heyyy Book Franz!
I hope you all have been well! For me and my family it has been an interested (to say the least) first 18 days of 2022. During moments like these I am grateful for online bookish spaces and BOOKS! I am grateful for YOU - I feel like I haven’t said it enough- THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. Thank you for being willing to go on this journey with me to learn about more Hispanic/Latinx/e Books authored books.
I know Nuevas Paginas is still fairly new (We are 11 interviews in :-o! In case you are new make sure to check our the archive for more!) but in the short time I have learned so much and my personal TBR has grown even higher. I hope yours has too. I don’t want to ramble on much more because today’s special guest is one I am extremely excited about. This is an author that is new-to-me but we share the same last name and I might be biased in saying this but Aquino’s tend to do some pretty cool stuff.
So I hope you enjoy this interview with Xavier Navarro Aquino and please make sure to check out his novel VELORIO which is now available in spanish!
Could you tell me a bit about where this photo was taken? Is it special to your book in some way?
I was able to return to Puerto Rico just under a week after the hurricane hit. This was taken in Trujillo Alto, on my way to my in-laws that live in Carraízo.
Though it took me some time to actually write about María, the destruction of the natural landscape stayed with me. María and her lingering affects served as not only inspiration, but how I went about describing the environment, so both the natural world and the hurricane itself can be argued as characters in the novel.
Tell me about your book without telling me about your book - share any literary inspirations behind your book! If there are none, the gap you wanted to fill in the literary canon with your book.
I have a long list of initial book forms that helped guide and mold how I approached writing the novel. Jesmyn Ward’s work was essential. But also thinking about Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The list also includes, Walcott, Danticat, Morrison, Sylvia Wynter, Patrick Chamoiseau, Manuel Ramos Otero, Shakespeare. In short, many writers inspired the process and thinking.
What are two central themes in your book that you connect with the most and why?
I’d hate to be a buzzkill, but I think “loss” and “anger.” There are many, but these two resonated with me. “Loss” considering the literal loss felt, but also a loss of the prosperity pantomime. “Anger” would be toward the many institutions that failed us.
If a book was home, where would your home be?
I think I would choose a poem. Walcott’s “The Schooner Flight.” Not because it is Puerto Rico but because it speaks to what binds us together as a region, the shared history all the Caribbean islands carry. That’s what inspires me.
If your book was a famous musician who would it be?
I’d go with Draco Rosa and Residente. I think both their music captures Velorio’s spirit. The poeticism of Draco, rather moody and melodic, with the sharp wit and bite of Residente’s overall aesthetic. So, we can be thinking Draco’s “Paraiso Prometido” with Residente’s “Apocalíptico.” If you listen to both those songs as complimentary pieces, they carry the promise of the “utopia” sought by the characters in the novel, juxtaposed with the reality of their circumstances.
What comfort food could a reader pair with your book?
¡Sancocho con una rajita de aguacate! It really is the perfect meal.
In what ways has access (or little to no access) to Hispanic/Latinx/e literature defined you as a writer?
I’m not sure it has necessarily defined me as a writer. What I will say, to paraphrase Morrison, is that it becomes the responsibility for those that have begun their ascension to extend back and bring others up as well. My hope is to contribute to opening doors. But also, through teaching, I hope to mentor graduate students on their journey through publication. There are many incredibly talented writers from Puerto Rico that should be widely read. Even working with the assumption that America is very self-absorbed and often promotes and carries literature that is centered in this idea of American life, we should then be reading writers from Puerto Rico.
The over 3 million American citizens from the island have lived experiences needing to be heard. While the address of the diaspora is vital, it is incomplete if we do not express the same enthusiasm and expend the same resources to Puerto Rican writers back home. As a community, we must continue to do better. Language is not the barrier. Let’s translate more. Let’s read more translation. Let’s expand the possibilities of literature in order to recognize a world beyond the confines of American individualism/exceptionalism.
Where can readers keep up with your work?
Google? I’m not too involved with the socials and tend to be a private person. But I suppose I do have an Instagram for now people can follow.
A huge thank you to Xavier Navarro Aquino for taking the time to chat with me about his work! Please please make sure you purchase a copy (or request your local library carry a copy) of his book #SupportLatinxLit!
Bio for Xavier Navarro Aquino from his website:
Xavier Navarro Aquino was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Named a "Writer to Watch" by Publishers Weekly for Fall 2021, he is the author of the forthcoming novel, Velorio from HarperVia/HarperCollins and HarperCollins Español in January 2022. His fiction has appeared in Tin House magazine, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and Guernica. His poetry has appeared in The Caribbean Writer and is anthologized in Thicker Than Water: New writing from the Caribbean by Peekash Press. He has been awarded scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, a Tennessee Williams scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, a MacDowell Fellowship, and an American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Fellowship at Dartmouth College. He holds an M.A. in English Caribbean Studies from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Currently, Navarro Aquino is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame where he teaches in the MFA program and in Notre Dame’s Initiative on Race and Resilience.
Synopsis of Velorio from Harper website:
Set in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Xavier Navarro Aquino’s unforgettable debut novel follows a remarkable group of survivors searching for hope on an island torn apart by both natural disaster and human violence.
Camila is haunted by the death of her sister, Marisol, who was caught by a mudslide during the huracán. Unable to part with Marisol, Camila carries her through town, past the churchyard, and, eventually, to the supposed utopia of Memoria.
Urayoán, the idealistic, yet troubled cult leader of Memoria, has a vision for this new society, one that in his eyes is peaceful and democratic. The paradise he preaches lures in the young, including Bayfish, a boy on the cusp of manhood, and Morivivi, a woman whose outward toughness belies an inner tenderness for her friends. But as the different members of Memoria navigate Urayoán’s fiery rise, they will need to confront his violent authoritarian impulses in order to find a way to reclaim their home.
Velorio—meaning “wake”—is a story of strength, resilience, and hope; a tale of peril and possibility buoyed by the deeply held belief in a people’s ability to unite against those corrupted by power.
Friendly reminder that the best ways you can support Latinx/e authors and Latinx/e literature is by doing the following:
Leave a review for their books on any website that sells books
Request that your local library carry a copy
Purchase a copy of a friend, family member, your nemesis (hey! I’m sure they read too).
Shout about the book on any social media platform or to your friends and family!
Share this interview widely! Word of mouth does wonders for connecting readers to books.
Team Xavier!