#NuevasPáginas: "Poems are the cells that built my heart."
#NuevasPáginas: "Poems are the cells that built my heart."
with Raquel V. Reyes author of 'Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking'
#NuevasPáginas is a space that aims to amplify and spotlight Hispanic/Latine/x authors with newly published books. The goal is to connect readers to their next favorite Hispanic/Latine/x authored book through a mini casual get-to-know-the-book-and-author interview. So please help me connect to more readers. So that together we can continue to build the love/support of Latine literature!
Hey Book Franz!
It’s gloomy and rainy on my end of the planet — which always feels like great nap & reading weather. How have you been? I received so many lovely notes and comments in the last #NuevasPáginas issue. They made me all teary-eyed and most importantly they helped me feel safe. Sharing where I’m at emotionally/mentally hasn’t always been easy because I’m just now learning how to identify and give space to my feelings. So I am deeply thankful to folks who let me know they hear me and see me. I’m excited to be back this week with another exciting author interview! But in case you missed the last one — check it out below.
What’s Lupita reading this week?
I have fully given in to celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month by taking my time to carefully read through ‘But What Will People Say!: Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love, and Family Between Cultures’ by
. I should be transparent and say that I did not plan for things to work out like this — reading such a powerful book on mental health during Mental Health Awareness Month. The universe made this happen.You see, a while ago, I was scrolling Twitter and I came across a set of tweets that stopped me in my tracks. Those tweets were posted by
. They stopped me in my tracks because, for the first time, there was someone making space for my experience growing up as a child of immigrants while also making space for the obstacles my parents navigated as immigrants in a new country. At the time, I didn’t know that multiple things could be held together.So, I, of course, needed to follow the creator behind such powerful tweets and I’ve been following along — learning how to hold space for myself and my lived experiences as well as staying curious to my parent’s lived experiences. That’s why I’m so deeply honored I get to chat with
this week! If you are in the DC/MD/VA area, I’d love to have you join us. We are going to have such a good chat, I can feel it in my bones.It should also be said that this book is one that is so very much needed in this world. I believe that so much that I gave a copy of it to my therapist — so grab a copy even if you aren’t able to physically join us.
May 16th at 7 PM ET via Politics and Prose (Union Market) join us to celebrate Sahaj Kaur from Brown Girl Therapy debut book ‘But What Will People Say’! No registration is required!
Without further ado…our special guest author for today’s Nuevas Pagina issue is…Raquel V. Reyes author of Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking!
Could you tell me a bit about where this photo was taken? Is it special to your book in some way?
This foto was taken by Biscayne Bay, the body of water between Miami and Miami Beach. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen dozens of selfies and sunrises on the bay. It is a place I go to restore and center myself. I've seen manatees, tarpon, dolphin, and all sorts of feathered and finned creatures there. In my Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series, the fictional village of Coral Shores is on Biscayne Bay.
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
As an only child, the library was my summertime friend. That is where I fell in love with traditional mysteries. First, it was Agatha Christie, which quickly led to Elizabeth Peters, leading me to the wonderful world of cozy mysteries. Cozies have little to no on-page violence, a who-done-it to solve, and usually an independent female protagonist that knows her worth. But what those delightful and entertaining novels didn't have were main characters (hell, not even supporting characters) that looked and spoke like me. I pursued writing with the intent to change that. From my early stories to my current ones, my main characters are Latina, and they use Spanglish.
What are two central themes in your book that you connect with the most and why?
Food Anthropology and Decolonization.
If a book was home, where would your home be?
It would probably be a book of poems by Lucille Clifton or Sonia Sanchez. I was a poet before I became a novelist. Poems are the cells that built my heart.
If your book was a famous musician who would it be?
Celia Cruz! Why? Because she is The Queen! I love salsa. It reminds me of the parties my abuelos had when I was a kid. There was always dancing and delicious food. There was happiness and joy.
Héctor Lavoe and Wille Colón would be good too. Their songs have crime and injustice themes, along with great beats and a killer horn section.
I mention a few Bad Bunny songs in my novels. I think Benito is awesome. I appreciate that he speaks out for marginalized and persecuted people. I love how he reps Puerto Rico. I'm Cuban-American, but I married a Puerto Rican. I lived on the island for a while— that's where we met. Actually, we met in a photography class at La Liga de Arte en Viejo San Juan. Book three in the series, Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal, is set in Old San Juan. Writing it made me so homesick for the island. That book's song is definitely "El Apagón."
What comfort food could a reader pair with your book?
Either croquetas y Jupiña or a pastelito de guayaba y un cortadito. But you could also go with bacalaitos or any cuchifrito really. Picadillo con arroz with a side of tostones would be delicious. Some mojo to dip them in is a requirement.
I write culinary mysteries. My MC, Miriam Quiñones, is a food anthropologist focused on the Caribbean. This list could go on and on.
Hear me on NPR's Audacious telling a story about frijoles negros, a pressure cooker, and a lost cookbook.
In what ways has access (or little to no access) to Hispanic/Latinx/e literature defined you as a writer?
The only writers I encountered in my school years were Mexican and Chicano. They were mainly poets or literary writers, not popular fiction. Their works had themes I could connect with—a sharedness, a Latinidad, but it was a sharedness in the big sense (generalities due to being colonized by Spain) but not in the details. When I began creating work for public eyes and ears (first poems, then plays, and eventually novels), I made sure to get into those details that spoke to my Miami-Cuban heritage as well as our island siblings Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
Recently, I got the best compliment. It was in a review of Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking on Latinx in Publishing's site. "Reyes writes cultural love letters to Latinx communities." Love letters! Yes!
Where can readers keep up with your work?
I am @LatinaSleuths across social media. I'm on Instagram the most, and I post on TikTok occasionally.
My website is LatinaSleuths.com.
Join my newsletter. It is monthly, and I usually have a book giveaway opportunity for my readers.
Raquel V. Reyes writes Latina protagonists. Her Cuban-American heritage, Miami, and Spanglish feature prominently in her work. Mango, Mambo, and Murder, the first in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series, won a LEFTY for Best Humorous Mystery. It was nominated for an Agatha Award and optioned for film. Raquel's short stories appear in various anthologies, including The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022. Find her across social media platforms as @LatinaSleuths and on her website LatinaSleuths.com
Synopsis for Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking:
It's time for a savory soirée--but something sinister is stewing--in Raquel V. Reyes's second delightful Caribbean Kitchen mystery, perfectly delicious for fans of Mia P. Manansala.
Fall festivities are underway in Coral Shores, Miami. Cuban-American cooking show star Miriam Quiñones-Smith wakes up to find a corpse in her front yard. The body by the fake tombstone is the woman that was kicked out of the school's Fall Festival the day before.
Miriam's luck does not improve. Her passive-aggressive mother-in-law puts her in charge of the Women's Club annual gala. But this year, it's not canapes and waltzes. Miriam and her girlfriends-squad opt for fun and flavor. They want to spice it up with Caribbean food trucks and a calypso band. While making plans at the country club, they hear a volatile argument between the new head chef and the club's manager. Not long after, the chef swan dives to his death at the bottom of the grand staircase.
Was it an accident? Or was it Beverly, the sous chef, who is furious after being passed over for the job? Or maybe it was his ex-girlfriend, Anastasia?
Add two possible poisonings to the mix and Miriam is worried the food truck fun is going to be a major crash. As the clock ticks down and the body count goes up, Miriam's life is put in jeopardy. Will she connect the dots or die in the deep freeze? Foodies and mystery lovers alike will savor the denouement as the truth is laid bare in this simmering stew of rage, retribution, and murder.
I am so excited to be in conversation with you!!!