On this episode, Yvette interviews Maya-- a fellow Yalie and member of the Tohono Oodham nation. Maya shares the inspiration behind her book draft "Journey to the Heart of the Desert," why she believes story-telling preserves culture, and her writing process that led to her to choose literary non-fiction as the book's genre. Journey to the Heart of the desert tells the story of Maya's grandmother-- a black womxn living in Harlem in the 1930's who decided on a whim to move to the Tohono Oodham nation to become a teacher on the reservation---and the love story between her and Maya's grandfather. This episode includes a read-aloud of an excerpt of the book-- so you don't want to miss this!