Lilliam Rivera is a writer based in Los Angeles, CA. In her young adult novels The Education of Margot Sanchez and Dealing In Dreams, Lilliam tells familiar stories in new ways—instead of a typical teen drama or dystopian science fiction, she centers Latina characters in stories that take on topics like colorism and gentrification. In our conversation, we talked about why she’s drawn to write stories about young people, what it means to buy into the American Dream, and whether violence is actually empowering. Then for the second segment, we discussed Jeanine Cummins’ recent novel American Dirt and the controversy around it.

(Conversation recorded January 23, 2020.)

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Show Notes:

• Lilliam Rivera
• Lilliam Rivera - The Education of Margot Sanchez
• Lilliam Rivera - Dealing in Dreams
• Lilliam Rivera - Never Look Back
• Last Exit
• Orpheus and Eurydice
• Black Orpheus
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 87: David Bowles
• Myriam Gurba - “Pendeja, You Ain’t Steinbeck: My Bronca with Fake-Ass Social Justice Literature”
• Commonplace - Episode 67: John Biewen
• Scene on Radio - Seeing White
• Scene on Radio - MEN
• Burning
• Parasite

Transcript Episode Credits

• Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
• Music: Podington Bear
• Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo