Episode 225 with Andrés N Ordorica, Author of How We Named the Stars and Generous Creator of Poignant, Resonant "Love and Loss" Scenes and Utterly Memorable Characters

Notes and Links to Andrés Ordorica’s Work

 

     For Episode 225, Pete welcomes Andrés Ordorica, and the two discuss, among other topics, his early relationship to the written word, formative and transformative writers and writing, wonderful trips to Borders Books, moments and people that shaped his sensibilities, Shakespeare comparisons, and seeds for and salient themes related to How We Named the Stars, including love and loss, the intensity of young love and first love and college, longing and grief.

 

 

   Andrés N. Ordorica is a queer Latinx writer based in Edinburgh. Drawing on his family’s immigrant history and third culture upbringing, his writing maps the journey of diaspora and unpacks what it means to be from ni de aquí, ni de allá (neither here, nor there). He is the author of the poetry collection At Least This I Know and novel How We Named the Stars. He has been shortlisted for the Morley Lit Prize, the Mo Siewcharran Prize and the Saltire Society’s Poetry Book of The Year. In 2024, he was selected as one of The Observer’s 10 Best Debut Novelists.

 

Buy How We Named the Stars

 

Andres' Website

 

New York Times Review of How We Named the Stars from Maxwell Gilmer

 

At about 2:15, Andrés talks about the “surreal” experiences he’s had since the book has been out in the world

At about 3:20, Andrés shouts out Douglas Stuart and advice on dealing with multiple projects

At about 5:40, Andrés calls his new project “part of a similar world” as that of How We Named the Stars

At about 8:15, Andrés fill Pete in on his childhood relationship with libraries and the written word, including how his mother’s storytelling influenced and inspired him

At about 11:00, Andrés shouts out NorCal reading spots and how he “fell in love with the idea of books”

At about 13:05, Andrés discusses writers and writing that catapulted him into writing and reading even more seriously-Cristina Garcia, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Susan Lori Parks, Sandra Cisneros, and Marquez 

At about 19:30, Andrés shouts out Jackie Kay and Griffin Hansbury and other contemporaries he’s reading in 2024

At about 22:45, Andrés discusses the stellar work of Jackie Kay’s time as Maker of Scotland

At about 24:10, GoodReads discourse!

At about 25:20, Andrés discusses seeds for the book and its epigraph

At about 28:55, Andrés reflects on love and loss as important themes in general and in his book in particular

At about 30:00, Andrés shouts out places to buy his book, and mentions that his book is a Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month

At about 32:20, Andrés breaks down his “pragmatic” and “poetic” decisions to write the book in the epistolary form and let the trader know very quickly about a shattering death

At about 34:35, Pete and Andrés discuss the Prologue and the cosmos and axolotls being referenced 

At about 39:40, Andrés gives history on how Elizabeth DeMeo helped him choose his dynamic title

At about 41:00, Pete references ideas of light and darkness and tells a story about a mistaken symbol in Reyna Grande’s Across a Hundred Mountains

At about 43:55, Andrés talks about how even a novelist “doesn’t have all of the answers” regarding the letter/book that constitutes the book

At about 45:30, Pete makes a controversial comparison, re: Shakespeare 

At about 47:15, Andrés gives background on a deleted scene from the book alluding to As You Like It

At about 48:45, Pete references Karim new book on Shakespeare by Farah Karim-Cooper

At about 51:30, The two discuss the intensity of college and “the transitory” experience that characterizes the beginning of college

At about 54:50, Pete asks Andrés about the first interactions between Sam and Daniel in the book and about an early scene as a balancing act

At about 1:00:20, Pete lays out early scenes from the book that deal with ignorant and racist comments and the “generous” Sam-Andrés expands upon the former scene’s significance

At about 1:06:00, The two discuss Andrés’ homesickness and family connections and “family” at college

At about 1:07:00, Themes of masculinity and genuine selfhood are discussed, and Andrés talks about how he shaped parts of the book as an “homage” to figures in his life 

At about 1:09:50, Pete highlights Andrés incredible touch in rendering the immediate aftermath of a crushing death on the page

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   I am very excited that starting in February with Episode 220 with Neef Ekpoudom and this episode, I will have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review-I’m looking forward to the partnership!

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    Please tune in for Episode 226 with Priscila Gilman, author of the memoir, The Anti-Romantic Child, and former professor of English literature at Yale University and Vassar College; Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere. Her memoir, A Critic’s Daughter, was released to critical acclaim in Feb 2023

   The episode will air on March 5.