Novel APPROACH
Poet Alberto Rios talks about his first novel
Alberto Alvaro Rios’ new book is different from anything he’s written before, and as the first Poet Laureate of Arizona, his repertoire is extensive.
His book, “A Good Map of All Things” is a picaresque novel that highlights the thriving lives of 20 people who live in a town near the Mexican border. Known for his works of poetry and short stories, this is Rios’ first novel.
“I’ve been working on this novel for a very long time,” Rios said. “For over 10 years.”
Rios’ novel tells the story of life on the border
Rios’ novel showcases a side of life near the border that is rarely told. Born
“I’ve been working on this novel for a very long time. For over 10 years.”
Alberto Alvaro Rios
in Nogales, Rios knows firsthand what life there is like, he wanted to capture that life through the characters in his book.
“We have such a political overlay today on anything having to do with the border. We can’t imagine that people would live there,” Rios said.
“People not only live there, but they also thrive there and they have good lives. That’s the story that doesn’t get told because it’s not loud.”
In addition to his new novel, Rios also released his 16th book earlier this year, a volume of poetry titled, “Not Go Away Is My Name.”
The arts are not a ‘one-off kind of thing’
Rios served as Poet Laureate of Arizona from 2013-2016. He was the first and, so far, only person to hold the position. Visiting classrooms, teaching and inspiring Arizona’s diverse communities about the art of poetry was Rios’ duty as Poet Laureate, but it’s something he’s always done and continues to do.
“I don’t think poetry or the arts, in general, are a one-off kind of thing. It’s not like one big event then everybody can go home and they’ve had their poetry for the year. It’s got to be everywhere I go,” he said.
“It’s very important to me and I’ve always done it. So becoming Poet Laureate was just like saying, ‘keep doing what you’re doing.’”
Rios became a poet at a young age
And Rios has been doing it since he was in second grade.
“Starting a path as a poet has very little to do with pencil and paper,” he said. “It had to do with the imagination and thinking. I can measure it all the way back to second grade when I got in trouble for committing the egregious second grader crime of daydreaming. And I think that was the beginning of it.”
Now, His poetry, stories and autobiographical work have been extensively published for nearly 4 decades. Among many other honors, Ríos has received the Walt Whitman Award in Poetry, the Western States Book Award for Fiction, and the Latino Literary Hall of Fame Award. In 2014, Ríos was elected to the prestigious position of Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Rios hopes his novel will inspire people to look at the big picture
Rios is getting back to his childhood and family life in his new novel and hopes it will inspire readers and take them on an adventure they’ve never been on.
“We are going 1,000 miles an hour, so much of it seems dire. Politics, COVID, the Arizona weather everything just feels like it’s apocalyptic,” he said.
“I wanted this book to say ‘there’s another side to all of that, life goes on’ and not only that but we’re part of something bigger and this is a way of sitting back and saying slow down a little bit.”
Culture Reporter for The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com. Reach her at emontgomery@azcentral.com or 602444-8764. Follow her on Twitter @emontnews. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.