I’ve written that I always liked rhyming
poetry, the wonderful Robert Louis Stevenson
poems, for example. Poetry remains a favorite
genre both for reading and writing. Thanks to a
Summer Reading Club, I think, I began reading
biographies. I’ve written two, Toma ́sandthe
Library LadyandA Library for Juana,andam
currently working on a biography project using
poetry. To be candid, my motivation is my desire
to increase awareness of Latino heroines and
heroes.
You use the term ‘‘book joy.’’ What do you
mean by that and what is an example of a book
experience that gives you book joy?
I so like the intensity packed into the three-
letter word joy. By ‘‘book joy,’’ I mean the intense,
private pleasure readers experience when they
savor a book. Delicious text. Presently, for exam-
ple, I’m savoring The Wild Braid. A Poet Reflects
on a Century in the Garden by Stanley Kunitz. I
love to garden and am so enjoying the insights of a
fellow gardener and poet, who lived to be a hun-
dred and was wise and talented.
In an article you wrote... entitled ‘‘Why I Am
a Writer,’’ you explain that you write because you
are ‘‘curious’’ and because you read. Deborah
Morad... quotes you as saying, ‘‘I also write
because I am fascinated by the pleasure and
power of words.’’ Tell us more about this recursive
process of reading and writing. How do each influ-
ence you as a reader and, a writer?
A fascinating question. I feel strongly about
that interesting duality: the pleasure and power
of words, of languages. It’s important to me that
young readers and writers experience both, at a
level appropriate to their stage of development.
Language liberates. I read as a source of deep
pleasure that readers know in the way tea
drinkers know the pleasure of a cup of tea. Of
course, I value reading as a route to knowledge
and understanding including the knowledge I
may need for my next writing project. In doing
research for the current project on Latina heroes
and heroines, for example, I not only learn facts
but am awed by what others have endured and
accomplished. This inspires me to persevere.
Being a writer, then, does influence what I read
and vice versa. The image that comes to mind is
the symbol for infinity.
InaprofilewrittenbyRosalindaBarrera ...,
you mention your imagination is fired up by reading
the works of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the
Spanish poet and novelist, Frederico Garcia-Lorca.
How does reading authors like these push your own
creativity and curiosity?
I smiled at the question since this fall, the
University of Arizona Press will publish my sixth
adult poetry collection,... [which was] inspired
by the odes of Pablo Neruda. I love the music
and imaginative leaps by Neruda and Lorca.
Writers we admire give us linguistic courage.
Tell me more about [this collection]. What
linguistic courage did you call upon to write this
collection?
A kind question. It was a considerable risk
to write a collection modeled on the work of the
reviewed Pablo Neruda. I include an ode to him
because from my perspective, the collection is in
homage to him. A book of praise songs is also a
risk in a time when praise may seem frivolous
compared to tragedy. Praise can sustain the
human spirit, however. One of my hopes is that
the collection will tempt readers of all ages to
write their own odes to the things they love.... what will be your next project?
...my new children’s book illustrated by
Doug Cushman will be published in November.
It’s a zoo romp that includes animals doing Latin
dances and features twenty-six cognates such
as hippopotamus/hipopo ́tamo. Eight other child-
ren’s books are in press, including a set of four
easy-read bilingual books.
Rosalinda Barrera points out that particular
themes consistently run through your books, includ-
ing: ‘‘family and community, the Chicano experience,
border relations, the desert, and bilingualism.’’ How
has writing about these themes changed you as a
person, a writer, and your view of these themes?
Another question that makes me smile. Crit-
ics who comment on the themes in my adult
work would add women to that list. Those
themes are me, of course. A writer’s intents are
complex and probably not fully apparent to the
writer herself. One of my intents is affirmation. I
often write about what I love, and what I love—
Mexican heritage, Spanish and languages, the
desert—is viewed by some as inferior. One of
my motivations for writing then, is to affirm
and celebrate what I cherish. I’m inviting readers
to notice as a botanist invites us in.
Your close relationship with the desert is
reflected in many of your books, too. The beauty of
the desert is mirrored in the beauty of the language
you use to write about it. Describe this connection
Uncoiling