An Orpheus and Eurydice Remix: Talking to Lilliam Rivera about Never Look(ing) Back, by Bayleigh Acosta

Interviews   Photo of Lilliam Rivera by Lilith Ferreira / Las Fotos Project Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning author of children’s books who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Rivera’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. Rivera’s latest novel, Never Look Back (Bloomsbury, 2020), retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in New York and influenced by various elements of Latin culture. I sat down with Rivera to discuss this novel, its influences, and Lilliam’s personal efforts and experiences as she wrote. Bayleigh Acosta: So, this story retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from a Latinx perspective. How did this connection come to life? Have you previously used Greek or other myths/cultures as inspiration for writing? Lilliam Rivera: I’ve written short stories maybe that incorporate mythology from Caribbean mythology or folktales, and such like that, but I’ve never written a whole book that’s a retelling, so this was my first vehicle into doing it, and the Orpheus and Eurydice story was a myth that I really loved when I was young. I kind of fell in love with it. I watched this movie called Black Orpheus, which is a classic 1950s film, that’s a retelling of the myth set in Brazil during Carnival. I just love that movie so much, and I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to write, and I was like, “How can I rewrite this story and... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-02 22:19:21 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "An Orpheus and Eurydice Remix: Talking to Lilliam Rivera about Never Look(ing) Back, by Bayleigh Acosta"


Stewart Foster strikes new two-book deal with S&S Children's

Simon & Schuster Children’s UK has acquired two middle-grade titles from Stewart Foster, the award-winning author of The Bubble Boy.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-05 14:43:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


10 shiny new books you should pick up this week.

Every week, the TBR pile grows a little bit more. It’s getting precarious. It’s taking up your whole nightstand. It’s threatening to crush you in your sleep. Well, what are you waiting for? Get cracking. What are you reading this week?   Colum McCann, Apeirogon (Random House) The latest novel... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 14:57:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Looking at Gish Jen and the Conglomeration of Others

This week, Karen Thompson Walker reviews Gish Jen’s new novel, “The Resisters.” In 1999, Jean Thompson wrote for the Book Review about “Who’s Irish?,” Jen’s collection of short stories about the ambitions and compromises of immigrants and their children. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-02-21 10:00:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this


SHARJAH FOCUS: London Book Fair events

 Tuesday 10 March Omar Ghobash in Conversation with Philippe Sands11.45-12.15, English PEN Literary Salon (3E90), OlympiaOmar Ghobash is a former diplomat and the author of Letters to a Young Muslim (Picador 2018), an exploration of the complexities of life as a modern Muslim, written as a... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-02-17 10:55:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A writer is holding Patrick deWitt’s website hostage—until he reads their manuscript.

The following post has been updated with a response from the website squatter. There are traditional ways to get a book published—pitches, queries, agents, enduring months and years of soul-crushing work and silence—and then there’s blackmail. A writer is currently squatting on Patrick deWitt’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-30 16:55:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


SHARJAH FOCUS: Which authors are coming to London Book Fair?

Khulood Al Mu’alla Khulood Al Mu’alla was chosen this year as an honorary member of the Costa Rica Poetry Foundation and advisor to the International Poetry Festival of Costa Rica. She was honoured along with three poets as part of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Poets of... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-01-27 10:55:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On my radar: Emma Jane Unsworth’s cultural highlights

The novelist on William Blake, crying through Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and an insightful poem about teenage masturbationBorn in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1978, Emma Jane Unsworth studied English literature at the University of Liverpool and received an MA from Manchester University’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-01-26 10:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Considering Zora Neale Hurston and the Legacy of Fiction

This week, Jabari Asim reviews a collection of short stories by Zora Neale Hurston. In 1978, Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote for the Book Review about Robert Hemenway’s “Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-01-24 10:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Storytelling as Healing in Medicine, by Cecilia Simon

Book Reviews Cecilia Simon Photo by Michael Gaida / Pixabay “Health is whatever works and for how long.” This phrase was announced to our literature and medicine class the first week of the fall 2019 semester. Dr. Ronald Schleifer, the instructor, used... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-22 16:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Brazil’s attack on Greenwald mirrors the US case against Assange

Over the years, Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald has made more than a few enemies. What some of his fans and supporters see as a crusade for truth and justice can strike others—including those who become the targets of his journalistic crusades—as needlessly hostile and potentially biased.... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-01-22 12:45:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Myers and SoA condemn pressure on authors to 'perform'

Award-winning author Benjamin Myers and the Society of Authors (SoA) have criticised the pressure on writers to become “personalities” rather than be judged on their work as literary events increase. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-09 07:55:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On the Short Stories That Inspired a Russian Czar to Free the Serfs

My Afghan godfather, a bristling military man, who at one time back in the 1930s held the all-India motorcycle speed record, spoke of A Sportsman’s Notebook as one of the two or three books that formed and continued to inform his mind. I remember his copy of it lying on his bedside table,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-07 09:48:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Revisiting American Short Stories Selected by John Updike

This week, Annalisa Quinn reviews John L’Heureux’s story collection “The Heart Is a Full-Wild Beast.” In 1984, L’Heureux wrote for the Book Review about “The Best American Short Stories 1984,” selected by John Updike. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-01-03 10:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


4 of the Best Free Holiday Short Stories Online About Season’s Drama

If you find the holidays more foreboding than cheerful, find someone to relate to in these 4 free holiday short stories available to read online. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-12-16 11:35:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Viper snaps up Kate Simants' thriller

Serpent’s Tail's new crime imprint Viper will publish the second novel from former investigative undercover journalist and award-winning author Kate Simants. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-05 16:54:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hutchinson snaps up Carys Bray's climate change novel

Hutchinson has signed the new novel from award-winning author Carys Bray about the impact of climate change on mental health. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-28 15:45:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lessons in worldbuilding from N. K. Jemisin (plus a preview of her next book).

At the WIRED25 Festival in San Francisco last weekend, author N.K. Jemisin gave attendees a real treat: a two-hour crash course in imagining and building future worlds. Jemisin is the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, etc. Award-winning author of the Broken Earth series and the Inheritance Trilogy. (Literary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-13 16:55:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Obituary: Ernest J. Gaines, Novelist of the Black South, Dies at 86

Ernest J. Gaines, award-winning author of the acclaimed novel 'The Autobiography of Jane Pittman,' and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient, died of a heart attack at his home in Oscar, La. He was 86. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Announcing the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award shortlist

From meditations on the d/Deaf experience to short stories blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, from mixing the personal and political to a young woman uncover the truth about her family’s past – four outstanding writers have today been named on the shortlist for The Sunday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-11-04 12:55:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What We're Reading – October 2019

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoSince studying Lara as a student, I have been a fan of Bernardine Evaristo’s work, and am delighted to see her win the Booker Prize this year. Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of twelve black characters with different backgrounds and experiences, most... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-10-30 09:49:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this