Pura Belpré Honoree Lilliam Rivera’s bibliography to date traverses the spectrum of genres, alive into new territory—and age categories—with adeptness and ease. Now, Rivera turns to science fiction with her latest YA novel, We Light Up the Sky, which follows three Latinx adolescence in Los Angeles as they try to stop an conflicting aggression in the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. PW batten with Rivera from her home in Los Angeles about grief, the accent of documenting what’s accident in her writing, and accidentally acceptable a bulb actuality during the pandemic.
You’ve accounting adolescent developed fiction in a array of genres: abreast coming-of-age for The Education of Margot Sánchez, dystopia for Ambidextrous in Dreams, allegorical call for Never Attending Back, and now science fiction for We Light Up the Sky. What fabricated you appetite to address science fiction? Was there annihilation specific that drew you to the genre?
I grew up account Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, which is one of the aboriginal books I anticipate I apprehend that was science fiction and absolutely cool me out. It’s aloof a scary, amazing book. And I reread it, of course, aback I started autograph We Light Up the Sky. I adulation that book so abundant because it talks about these big capacity like colonization, what does it beggarly to booty over a planet, who wins and who loses, and additionally aloof has really, absolutely alarming moments. That was the one book that I’ve consistently anticipation about. And I’d apprehend all these added science fiction books that accept been fabricated into movies. I’ve consistently admired those affectionate of science fiction [stories]. And I adulation The Matrix, and I’ve watched a lot of the Tom Cruise affectionate of films. But it’s always, consistently led by this white macho savior. So I knew I capital to address a science fiction book, and I knew I bare it to be centered about amber and Black kids and how they would advance the way—which is what I feel they do anyway. So it was aloof a amount of time afore I tackled [science fiction].
What aggressive the apriorism of We Light Up the Sky?
It was absolutely the abstraction of how a burghal is acclimated by bodies who are in power, and who’s activity to be adored and who isn’t activity to be adored aback there’s a crisis. And I could see it plainly, how it all played out during the pandemic, which is not article that I was autograph towards, because I had this abstraction a while ago. But it became so abundant clearer to me. I’m consistently in awe of adolescent bodies and how they are able to affected this and advance these advocate movements, angry adjoin injustice, angry adjoin the ability and these ascendancy abstracts and staking claim. And I was cerebration of a cine that I acclimated to watch aback I was younger, Rebel Without a Cause, and these three kids who don’t apperceive anniversary added and aren’t friends, and they’re absent in this burghal that aloof seems absolutely aberrant and conflicting to them, alike admitting they alive there or they’re built-in there. And I kept activity aback to that abstraction of active in a burghal that does not assume affable to adolescent amber and Black bodies and yet they are still aggravating to pale claim. Aggravating to [decide], “Do we save this city? Here’s a abode that doesn’t action us affordable housing, doesn’t action us amplitude to alike go to a mall. It’s alone meant for assertive people.” And so that’s what I was thinking—brown Rebel Without a Cause meets an conflicting invasion/first acquaintance story.
We Light Up the Sky is the one of the aboriginal YA books to be appear that not alone mentions Covid-19 but additionally explores what the after-effects ability attending like for humanity. What fabricated you adjudge to absorb the communicable in the atypical and its world?
Honestly, I didn’t anticipate we’d still be in it. You know, aback I was autograph this, I accept it set maybe two years afterwards [the pandemic], cerebration that it would be over. But I aloof feel that whenever I address any of my books, history is such an important allotment of it. For anniversary of my books, there has to be some array of affidavit of what is happening. Alike with Margot Sánchez I’m talking about gentrification at the alpha of it accident in the Bronx. There’s article historically angry to it. And if it’s contemporary, I accept to acknowledgment what’s accident now. I accept to acknowledgment Black Lives Matter. I accept to acknowledgment that there were absolute protests that happened during [the pandemic]. These huge movements were occurring at the aforementioned time that we’re ambidextrous with a virus that no one absolutely knows about. To me it’s important in all my assignment to acquisition some array of actual affiliation alike if I’m activity aback in time because aggregate is tied. There is no such affair as aloof a architecture actuality erected and that’s it. There is history in there. Bodies created it, bodies congenital it, you know? Like the mall, the Beverly Center [in Los Angeles, which is featured in We Light Up the Sky]. It’s a abode area they booty bottomward these restaurants because they don’t appetite kids blind out there, and they appetite to baby to absolutely specific tourists. So those were all the things I was cerebration about as I was autograph it, and it’s important for me to certificate this because we’re still activity through it.
Was it additionally important for the atypical to accept a appearance like Luna—who absent accession acutely important to them because of the pandemic—and analyze what that agency for them on the page?
Yeah, it was because I see it, I see how anybody is like, “Well, let’s get on with our lives. Let’s go aback to what we acclimated to do.” So there was no moment of, “Can we aloof ache all the accident that has happened?” And I’m still mourning, I’m still audition from bodies who are suffering, who are dying from [Covid-19]. There hasn’t been a moment. It’s like we’re not activity to pause, we’re aloof activity to abide affective advanced and assignment and go to the office. That’s denial. And Luna was activity that burden [in the book while afflicted her accessory Tasha]; her accompany did not appetite to apprehend it anymore. But there’s no cessation date aback it comes to grieving. I absolutely accept it aloof shifts. And sometimes it hurts way harder and sometimes it becomes article else. So I capital to account that and to accurate that in a adventure that it’s okay, that we’re not declared to go aback to normal—nothing’s normal. We’re declared to change and mark it, mark this time.
Was it a claiming to address during the pandemic?
It was arduous in a faculty that I feel, like everyone, I was ambidextrous with a lot of anxiety. Aloof aggravating to advance my ancestors activity actuality and authoritative abiding that things were additionally accept in New York area best of my added ancestors is. So autograph this assignment was actual altered from the added books because it was abnormally a blur. I acquainted alien. I acquainted aggregate was disturbing. I became a bulb person! [Laughs.] I had never been a bulb person. It’s not accustomed for me. I’m actual abundant a burghal person. And it acquainted actual abundant like I was autograph in a blur-like, affectionate of surreal moment. So I anticipate it fabricated faculty for me to address science fiction alike admitting it’s set in abreast [times]. The apple acquainted actual agee in a lot of ways, so that’s how I acquainted aback I was writing. I was autograph off-kilter, if that makes sense.
In accession to autograph YA, you’ve additionally done some middle-grade titles. What draws you to autograph for adolescent people?
I aloof adulation autograph adolescent voices. There’s so abounding altered things that are accident in both middle-grade and YA that’s aloof exceptional. All of these opportunities that I’ve had, like Goldie Vance, which is set in a banana book apple in the backward ’50s and the ’60s—I get to comedy about in those worlds. I could do all this fun research. So to me it’s affectionate of like, “Oh, what affectionate of activity will I get into? What can I apprentice about that time or what can I apprentice about these kids?” And I get to apprentice new things, so every new activity is agitative to me. I feel adored to acquaint these stories. And if kids acquisition them absorbing or alarming or heartbreaking, again I did my job as a storyteller.
What’s up abutting for you? Are there any accessible projects you can share?
My abutting activity is a middle-grade book with Kokila [called Barely Floating] that will be advancing out in the abutting two years. It’s about a babe who wants to be a synchronized swimmer, but her feminist mom is asleep set adjoin it. So that should be fun. I’ve apparent the cover, and it’s so cute. I adulation the character. So now I’m aloof alive on what comes out abutting aback it comes to the YA world.
We Light Up the Sky by Lilliam Rivera. Bloomsbury, $17.99 Oct. 26 ISBN 978-1-5476-0376-3
How To Write Bibliography With Many Authors – How To Write Bibliography With Many Authors
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