On being an Undercover Latina
with Aya de León
#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 great line-up of guest authors coming up so make sure you don’t miss an issue by subscribing now!
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Hey Heyyy Book Franz!
AHH Happy New Year!!! So it seems my break from Instagram, quickly translated to a break from all things "Lupita Reads” and I’m okay with that. For a moment I confused it as a lack of motivation but now I understand that it was important for me to pause things to get some much needed rest.
Due to that, we have some catching up to do. I’ve got my Top Books of 2022 list I still need to share with you, I’ve got the first 2023 #LupitasBookClub pick I need to select (help me pick it please!), I’ve got a piece I want to write about my experience being a “book influencer” AND a people pleaser (it sounds as chaotic as it is in my brain) and so much more. So I hope you are ready to keep kicking it with me this New Year as we enter a new bookish year together.
But before we jump into today’s interview, which I am really excited about because I love this author — I need to know in the comments - what’s your first read of the year?! Mine was The Work Wife: A Novel by Alison B. Hart and it was the perfect balance of messy drama and chaos while also being thought-provoking. Now, I’m read Let It Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz because my wife read it last year, loved it and has been begging me to hurry up and read so we can talk about it.
Without further ado, our very special guest author for today’s issue is……Aya de León author of Undercover Latina!
Could you tell me a bit about where this photo was taken? Is it special to your book in some way?
In front of La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. For many years, this was my cultural home. La Peña was an institution that supported some of the first Puerto Rican political organizing in the Oakland Bay Area. And it was through that organizing that I connected with other Puerto Ricans on the West Coast.
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.
About a decade ago, I read and LOVED the books by Robin Benway and Ally Carter--two white authors of spy girl books. In particular, Benway’s series offered a teen spy who worked with her family for a freelance spy operation. Overall, both these series were so brilliant in offering spying as a metaphor for being a teen girl: having to disguise yourself with wigs and makeup, hiding your feelings, getting people to open up to you, brokering information and secrets. I got excited to see what girls of color could bring to the genre. And if we put race in the mix, what if the freelance spy organization had a mission to fight racism at the international level?
What are two central themes in your book that you connect with the most and why?
My protagonist, Andréa, is Puerto Rican and Mexican. She needs to press her hair and pass for white to stop a white nationalist terrorist. My mother is Puerto Rican (with straight hair) and has often been mistaken for white, but she has dedicated much of her life to fighting racism. I liked the idea of proximity to whiteness being used to fight racism instead of being used to pass or assimilate.
The other theme is friendship and solidarity among women. Andréa and her mom are close, and there’s also a Latina/Black friendship among two girls that I love. They challenge and back each other in really important ways.
If a book was home, where would your home be?
Probably in a picture book with bright colors and an intrepid, powerful girl who ran around and had adventures with her friends.
If your book was a famous musician who would it be?
I’m laughing out loud at this question realizing that my books for adults were Cardi B meets Joan Baez. But this book would be Christina Aguilera working at the Mickey Mouse Club but running an underground sanctuary for undocumented asylum seekers and climate refugees underneath Disneyland!
What comfort food could a reader pair with your book?
Tostones, maduros, or mofongo…
In what ways has access (or little to no access) to Hispanic/Latinx/e literature defined you as a writer?
Growing up in Northern California, I was the undercover Latina. The Mexican-American community around me was doing a good job of celebrating their Indigenous heritage, but was decades away from acknowledging the Blackness of Latin America. I grew up with almost no Latinx literature and very little access to Puerto Rican/Caribbean community. I knew no Puerto Rican people outside my family. As a teenager, my mom only had two AfroLatine adults as casual acquaintances. So I have always had to use my imagination to construct my community. As a young adult, I began to read our stories, but it wasn’t til I became a mom that I really read any Latinx literature for young people. It’s really exciting to get to be part of the conversation.
Where can readers keep up with your work?
A huge thank you to Aya de León for taking the time to chat with me her book! Please please make sure you purchase a copy (or request your local library carry a copy) of her book #SupportLatinxLit!
Aya de León is the Afro-Latina author of several suspense novels for adults, as well as The Mystery Woman in Room Three, an open-source online novel about two undocumented Dominican teens who uncover a kidnapping plot to stop the Green New Deal. She teaches creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley, and is active in movements for racial, gender, and climate justice. She lives in Northern California.
Synopsis for Undercover Latina from the Bookshop website:
A Latina teen spy goes undercover as a white girl to stop a white supremacist terrorist plot in a fast-paced middle-grade debut from a seasoned author of contemporary crime fiction.
In her debut for younger readers, Aya de León pits a teen spy against the ominous workings of a white nationalist. Fourteen-year-old Andréa Hernández-Baldoquín hails from a family of spies working for the Factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. For her first solo mission, Andréa straightens her hair and goes undercover as Andrea Burke, a white girl, to befriend the estranged son of a dangerous white supremacist. In addition to her Factory training, the assignment calls for a deep dive into the son's interests--comic books and gaming--all while taking care not to speak Spanish and blow her family's cover. But it's hard to hide who you really are, especially when you develop a crush on your target's Latino best friend. Can Andréa keep her head, her geek cred, and her code-switching on track to trap a terrorist? Smart, entertaining, and politically astute, this is fast-paced upper-middle-grade fare from an established author of heist and espionage novels for adults.
Just here to to say mini-podcast? YES PLEASE.
This book sounds so good! I'm thinking I should get it for myself and then send it to my niece and nephews!
To your question, my first read of the year was Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, and it was a really fun way to start 2023!