New York Times Notable Book of 2014 and one of Amazon’s Top 10 Books of the Year, Cristina Henríquez is the author of The Book of Unknown Americans. 

“It doesn’t matter how fast you write, it matters how well your write.” -Cristina Henríquez

 

In today’s episode, Cristina and I dive deep into the inspiration behind her novel, and her writing process. I’m so thrilled about this as I’m a huge fan of her newest novel and how she skillfully shows us what it means to be connected through hope and to belong somewhere. We discuss how to build strong characters by first uncovering the language of the story, and how to use multiple first-person narratives as a way to create diversity in your story. We also go into detail about how Cristina reads books and how that can strengthen your writing. For writers looking into an MFA for writing and shopping around for workshop classes, be sure to pay special attention to Cristina’s own experiences with school.

Get ready to fall in love with this episode.

Cheers + so much love,

Yin

---

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• Why first discovering the language of your story is crucial for building strong characters

• Using multiple first-person narratives as a way to create diversity in your story

• The incredible story behind how Cristina fell in love with writing

• How active reading can strengthen your writing

• Allow yourself to be influenced by good teachers and mentors and how working with a support system will elevate your writing

 

Learn More About Cristina Henríquez

Cristina Henríquez is the author of The Book of Unknown Americans, which was a New York Times Notable Book of 2014 and one of Amazon’s Top 10 Books of the Year. It was the Daily Beast Novel of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book,an NPR Great Read, and was chosen one of the best books of the year byBookPage, Oprah.com, and School Library Journal. It was also longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Henriquez is also the authorThe World In Half, and Come Together, Fall Apart: A Novella and Stories, which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Glimmer Train, The American Scholar, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, and AGNI along with the anthology This is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America’s Best Women Writers. Cristina earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Chicago.

Cristina’s Recommended Books & Resources:

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

Drown by Junot Diaz   The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (TED Talk)

Merritt Tierce

Say ‘Hi!’ to Cristina TWITTER FACEBOOK TUMBLR