PBS Books, in collaboration with PBS SoCal, interviews Héctor Tobar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and novelist. Tobar is the author of the critically-acclaimed bestseller “Deep Down Dark” as well as “The Barbarian Nurseries,” “Translation Nation” and “The Tattooed Soldier.”
“Latino” is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States. Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” assembles the Pulitzer Prize winner Héctor Tobar’s personal experiences as the son of Guatemalan immigrants and the stories told to him by his Latinx students to offer a spirited rebuke to racist ideas about Latino people. Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of “Latino” as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and seeks to give voice to the angst and anger of young Latino people who have seen latinidad transformed into hateful tropes about “illegals” and have faced insults, harassment, and division based on white insecurities and economic exploitation.
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About Héctor Tobar
Héctor Tobar is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and novelist. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed bestseller “Deep Down Dark” as well as “The Barbarian Nurseries,” “Translation Nation” and “The Tattooed Soldier.” Tobar is also a contributing writer for the New York Times opinion pages and an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. He has written for The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times and other publications. Tobar’s short fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories anthology series, “Los Angeles Noir,” Zyzzyva and Slate. The son of Guatemalan immigrants, he is a native of Los Angeles, where he currently lives with his family. His newest release, “Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of ‘Latino,’” will be featured at the 2023 National Book Festival.