#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!
This week’s interview comes from a new-to-me author. Some time last year the daughter of this author sent me the sweetest note about her Mom’s work and wanted to know if I’d consider reading/shout out her short story collection. Well if you know anything about me - you know that my heart for these types of things is very weak. She immediately had my attention and when she sent the synposis of what exactly the short story collection centered - I was definitely interested. While I am slowly making my way to it because it’s on my very long TBR, I wanted to introduce you to the collection and the author in the event it might be of interest for you as well! I’ll be quiet now and let you read the interview but before I go - shout out to daugthers supporting their mothers and their dreams/art/work <3
Trigger warning for sexual abuse, rape, gender violence, and death mentioned in interview.
Could you tell me a bit about where this photo was taken? Is it special to your book in some way?
This photo is of my daily walk with my dogs Luna and Canela. The mountain behind me is Mount Snoqualmie or Si, near my home in Snoqualmie, Washington, on the Indigenous land of the Coast Salish peoples. In my short story collection Women of Fire and Snow, strong female characters overcome challenges in the forest, river and snows of Snoqualmie and the sun of the cities and pueblos of Mexico.
The Snoqualmie Valley is beautiful; with towering pines, flowing rivers and snow-covered capped mountains. But Snoqualmie is considered a haunted place; a sacred portal, a dumping ground for serial killers, scarred by logging and industry. Its cold, dark winters inspired me to delve into both Western and Mexican culture's shadow around gender violence and immigration.
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 write stories about contemporary issues such as the immigrant experience, gender violence, the environment, and social justice tempered by magical realism. I follow in the footsteps of many other writers. My suspenseful tales are influenced by my studies in indigenous and archetypal psychology and my own immigration journey.
What are two central themes in your book that you connect with the most and why?
There are two themes that connect all the stories in my collection and have marked my personal life. The first theme is centered on immigrants longing for home; the state of being summed in the phrase "ni de aquí, ni de all" (not from here, not from there). My characters, like me, have a foot in both the Mexican and American culture where a new identity is born.
The second theme is a result of my research on the prevalence of gender violence. When I first started writing these stories in 2017, the UN reported that nine women and girls were murdered every day in Mexico. Now, it is ten. Although worse for lower-income women, femicide spans all socio-economic classes and is exceptionally brutal; most victims are stabbed, strangled or drowned.
Femicide is not only vicious but intimate. Forty percent of women murdered in Mexico knew their killer. Exacerbating the problem is the systemic impunity in Mexico where 93% of crimes are never punished. Members of law enforcement at all levels engage in femicide; in March 2020, they attacked female protesters in various cities, arresting and assaulting some, using tear gas, and shooting four journalists in another.
Mexico has a problem, but it is not alone. The UN estimates that worldwide almost one in three girls and women will experience violence or sexual assault in their lifetime. Although boys and men also experience violence, there is a difference. Men and boys are victimized by violence on the streets and often during the commission of a crime. In disturbing contrast, a large majority of girls and women are victimized in the home, the place where one is supposed to feel safe and protected.
Because of economic, educational, and cultural reasons, a quarter of women worldwide will experience violence by an intimate partner or husband. Gender violence is worse in underdeveloped countries and in places where girls and women face genital mutilation and forced marriage.
In the US, one in three women are victims of assault or sexual violence, the same number worldwide. Although gender violence affects all women, regardless of race, class, or age, it is more frequent among transgender women and women of color. In addition, American Indian and Alaskan Native women experience violence at a higher rate, four out of every five.
In my stories, I never use graphic nor detailed descriptions of violent acts, but I do write about difficult issues, such as rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence. We cannot solve what we don’t acknowledge; we can’t help those who must hide or remain silent because of stigma, shame, threats, or lack of resources. My stories are factual and real but tempered with magical realism and mysticism as a way of sustaining hope.
I don’t know how to stop violence against women; the causes are complex and legion. But I do know that the tools of the patriarchy will not work. Instead, we need the feminine principles of equality, love, and acceptance that value all people.
If a book was home, where would your home be?
In the land between cultures and countries, the new space immigrants inhabit: ni de aquí, ni de allá.
If your book was a famous musician who would it be?
Lila Downs, an award-winning singer, born in Mexico of an Indigenous Mixtec woman and an American father. She sings in English, Spanish, Zapotec, Nahuatl, Mixtec.
What comfort food could a reader pair with your book?
Hot Chocolate of course! One of Mexico’s gifts to the world. This book should be read while sipping a steaming mug of thick chocolate, sweetened with piloncillo and cinnamon.
In what ways has access (or little to no access) to Hispanic/Latinx/e literature defined you as a writer?
I was fortunate to be raised in Mexico City where I attended school until I graduated from college. I was exposed to the Boom de la Literatura Latinoamericana and studied under established writers and journalists. Some of my many influences are Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, Angeles Mastretta, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Rulfo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Elena Poniatowska. Chicana writers: Ana Castillo y Sandra Cisneros.
Where can readers keep up with your work?
https://www.facebook.com/natidelpasowriter/
https://www.instagram.com/natidelpaso/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21829458.Nati_del_Paso
A huge thank you to Nati Del Paso for taking the time to chat with me about her work! Please please make sure you purchase a copy (or request your local library carry a copy) of her book #SupportLatinxLit!
Bio for Nati Del Paso from her website:
Nati del Paso is a writer, counselor, and student of Indigenous Psychology and Shamanism. She was raised in Mexico by a Mexican mother and an American father.
Del Paso moved to Reno, Nevada in 2001 where she studied creative writing and managed the community college’s continuing education writing program and their annual writer’s conference.
She is a counselor in the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Del Paso weaves psychology and magic realism into suspenseful tales surrounding the immigrant experience, women, environmental, race, and cultural identity issues.
Nati del Paso lives in Snoqualmie, Washington, on the Indigenous Land of Coast Salish people who have reserved treaty rights to this land, specifically the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe sdukʷalbix.
Synopsis of Woman of Fire and Snow from authors website:
A college student battles evil when her father is detained by ICE. An undocumented teenager is ripped from her hometown and fights to survive a haunted place. After rescuing her nephew at the border, a young woman wrestles with her privilege and the power of La Santa Muerte. A curandera confronts a demon to help her granddaughter survive her violent husband. A young Chicana journalist from Seattle, travels to Mexico, plunging into femicide and a secret society.
Women of Fire and Snow is a collection of contemporary stories of women straddling the Mexican-American border while finding their place and voice. Cultural identity, gender violence, forced migration, sacrifice, love, and resiliency give birth to suspenseful tales in which stark realism is tempered by the supernatural and mystical.
From the deserts and volcanoes of Mexico to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, these fast-paced stories blend social commentary with classic and psychological horror.
These stories reference sexual abuse, rape, gender violence, and death, which may be disturbing to some readers.
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.