Stories written in the sunset: Southwestern writers in Albuquerque

You can take an author out of the desert, but you can't take the desert out of an author.

New Mexico is full of authors wanting to share their stories of experiences in the Southwest. From historical fiction stories about cowboys shooting out at high noon to nonfiction stories about atomic bombs made in New Mexico to mystery books where the truth is hidden in the dirt, New Mexico authors note that they all can feel the heat of the south in their writings.

Jennifer Givhan

Jennifer Givhan is one of many authors who decided to learn more about her heritage and share it with the world.

"I moved back to New Mexico 13 years ago, looking to reconnect with my Indigenous roots here, and that lead to a deep interest in the sacred stories of my Puebloan ancestors," said Givhan.

In her pursuit of knowledge about atomic bombs in New Mexico, Givhan noticed a distinct lack of Indigenous voices on the subject.

"Nobody talks about what these bombs did to the land and sacred sites," she said.

Her answer to the lack of representation was the creation of "Trinity Sight," a story that blends Givhan's Indigenous and Latina background. The story follows an anthropologist from the University of New Mexico as she navigates her way through an apocalyptic version of New Mexico.

"The story is the reimagining of an apocalypse novel from the Indigenous perspective," she said.

The 288-page book published in 2019 received a variety of accolades and awards including the 2020 Southwest Book Award, an AudioFile Earphones Award and Goodreads Pick for Top Latinx Reads for Fall.

Her other award winning book published in 2022, "River Woman, River Monster," follows a Chicana artist that has to use brujeria and Curanderismo (a word for traditional Latino healers and healing practices) to uncover a mystery. The story takes place in Albuquerque and Los Lunas.

"Everything I write comes from my identity and my culture," Givhan said. "So much of what I was seeing in mainstream was a very stereotypical representations of the Southwest, and one of my goals is to show the real people who live here, my family, the people I grew up with. I never flatten it to people's expectations."

The 322-page book received accolades. It was a finalist for the Rudolfo Anaya Best Latino Focused Fiction Book Award from the International Latino Book Awards, Barnes and Noble Pick of Best Audiobooks for Hispanic Heritage Month, BuzzFeed Books Pick of Best Books of the Month and Goodreads Pick for Hispanic Heritage Month.

All of Givhan's work features Spanglish — a mix of English and Spanish — as a way to show the influence her background and the Southwest have given her.

"To be a southwestern writer means to pull open the doors for others," she said. "It took me years to make this my career and I want to eliminate barriers for others trying to do the same."

Lorena Hughes

As a UNM alumni, Lorena Hughes knows New Mexico well. Hailing from Ecuador, her stories have a heavy influence of Ecuadorian and New Mexican cultures.

"One of the things that happens when you live away from your home is that I think that the nostalgia kicks in, and so you write about that like it's your way to keep connected with your family or their past," Hughes said. "I was trained here (for writing) in New Mexico so I think my style when writing is more American than Latin American."

Her best-selling 304-page murder mystery novel "The Spanish Daughter" focuses on an Ecuadorian woman chasing after the truth of her father's legacy. The book won various awards including A Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books Selection, Amazon Editors’ Pick: Best of the Month, Literature & Fiction, Amazon's Unforgettable Reads Book Club January Pick and the Washington Post Books to Read Now.

Hughes credits much of her success to the large writing community Albuquerque has. As a member of the SouthWest Writers and the former organizer of the UNM writers conference, she has worked with New Mexican writers for a long time.

Hughes has noticed a lot of crossover between her Latin American and southwestern roots, especially when referencing culture in her stories.

"A lot of the language, food and lot of religion," she said. "My character's mom dances flamenco and here it's huge so I think unconsciously a lot of New Mexico is infused in my books without me knowing it."

Hughes believes New Mexicans drift toward her writing because they might be able to relate to her characters more easily than in other stories.

"I think that maybe New Mexicans like those aspects because they see a lot of cultures of South America with New Mexico," she said. "We have similar ancestry and I try to infuse a lot of that culture and maybe that's what resonates."