Hector Tobar

I've been writing books long enough to remember a time when there were only a handful of Latinx reviewers. That's changed. Dramatically. Huge thanks to @_franciscocantu for his thoughtful, beautiful review of my book Our Migrant Souls in @nytimesbooks.

My prologue for the reissue of the Nobel laureate Miguel Angel Asturias's novel Men of Maize is in The Paris Review online. theparisreview.org/blog/2024/08/1…

My book Our Migrant Souls is the winner of this year's Zócalo Book Prize. Please join myself and the great Natalia Molina as we talk about the book on Thurs., Jun 13 at 7. pm., in downtown L.A., at the old Herald Examiner building.

I can't wait until the movie awards season is over. Because then, and only then, will I stop getting messages in my in-box telling me "American Fiction is an instant modern classic." Attn: Orion Pictures: a dozen emails (yeah, I counted them) is enough.

Craft+persistence=a writer. Craft+persistence+humility=a good writer.

Truly moved to see my book Our Migrant Souls on the New York Times list of 100 Notable Books of 2023. Really a wonderful honor. And to see it on the best-of-the-year lists at Time, Amazon, and NPR. Many thanks to the editors and reviewers at those places. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Our Migrant Souls won the Kirkus Prize for nonfiction this week. And I was deeply honored to share a stage with my fellow honorees: The legendary novelist James McBride (who won in fiction) and Ariel Aberg-Riger (for her work in YA literature).

My wonderful Guatemalan mother, so smart and funny. Like me, she never took a class in literary criticism. But throughout my life she's read my work and told me: "Mijito, siempre le das ese toquecito humano." Yeah, mom: little human touches. That's what it's all about. Gracias.

New Yorkers! Please join me next week, Thursday Oct. 12 @ 7 p.m., at the New York Public Library's iconic Schwarzman Building, where I will be discussing my book Our Migrant Souls with the wonderful novelist Alejandro Varela. nypl.org/events/program…

On 10/12, join us for #LIVEfromNYPL with the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer @TobarWriter & Alejandro Varela as they discuss the complicated story of the historical and social forces that define Latino identity. Register now to join in person or online: on.nypl.org/3Q4ASs8

@TheAuthorGuy You can write whatever you want. I don't think it's dishonest. What I'm saying is that the idea of "whiteness" is based on forgetting and erasures. Erasing people "of color," erasing the pain of a white "ethnic" past, erasing the realities of social class.

@TobarWriter So white, Anglo writers have a point of view that’s different from yours? Imagine that. Having been both poor and white, I’m not sure how I should portray that experience to your satisfaction, but if my portrayal doesn’t match your point of view, it doesn’t mean it’s dishonest.

Today, in honor of Labor Day, I would like to tell you what I learned about class struggle--and U.S. literature--after reading 150 novels and story collections, as a member of the 2023 Pulitzer jury for fiction. 1/8

@leahkorican Yes! See the chapters called "Race" in my book "Our Migrant Souls."

@TobarWriter I’d like to read more about this- can you share any specifics? 🙏

I think that we Latino writers, especially, should peer into the questions of social class at the root of our “identity.” We should write about our relationship to "white" ideas of success and stauts. A lot of our bravest writers do this. Onward and upward with the arts! 8/8

The most infuriating thing was to read works of historical fiction (by some of our most celebrated writers) that were set in times and places where Latino people played a central role in the real-life story—and to see Latino people erased from the narrative. 7/8

@ievaju Wine, or a gift basket. And a flourish of adjectives that convey infinite gratitude.