Editor's Note: In advance of the March 13 deadline to apply for Lit Fest Advanced Workshops, we've asked the 2021 Visiting Authors for a preview of their workshop style, what they're reading, and more.
What books/movies/tv shows have fired you up lately?
TV Shows: I May Destroy You and Vida. I May Destroy You literally destroyed me. And I loved Vida, and I hate that this show is no more. We need more queer Latinx TV shows.
Books: I've been re-reading Ivelisse Rodriguez's Love War Stories, and I don't want it to end. This book is so so good—she can say so much in just a few words. These stories, about love and heartbreak and suffering and strength, are wise and full of longing and humor. I first read Ivelisse Rodriguez's stories in The Boston Review years ago, and I've been thinking about her characters ever since.
What are you working/currently trying to work on these days?
A novel called I AM DELIBERATE, an untitled young adult novel, a television adaptation, and an essay collection.
How would you describe your workshop style?
My workshop is a conversation that encourages and prioritizes the centering of marginalized and underrepresented voices and communities, and that pushes writers to see the writing in front of them as a work-in-progress. I'm very easygoing, and I encourage participation, but also, I expect writers to read others' work and think beyond their own aesthetic to consider the writer's vision rather than their own, and to think critically and creatively about how they can contribute to a larger conversation about craft.
Are we living in a simulation or no?
This is a hard one, but no. This is the real world and we have to live in it.
Jaquira Díaz is teaching Advanced Weeklong Nonfiction Workshop: Expanding the Personal Narrative. Learn more here. Apply via Submittable.
