Love Soars: An interview with Margarita Engle
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, love is a theme that’s in the air… it seemed the perfect time to interview our Diverse Verse Advisory Circle member, Margarita Engle, about her Young Adult novels-in-verse, many of which feature teen romance. We spoke together specifically about her upcoming 2023 release, WINGS IN THE WILD, which, as Engle emphasizes below, is first and foremost a love story.
Padma Venkatraman :
WINGS IN THE WILD, is primarily a romance; but there is another underlying theme: freedom of expression - or the lack thereof. The inciting incident in the novel is the exposure of Soleida's parents' artwork, which protests the criminalization of certain works of art by the Cuban government. While this book is set (at least initially) in Cuba, banning of art is unfortunately something of current relevance in our country today. Was this on your mind as you wrote?
Margarita Engle:
I wrote this romantic, poetic, environmentally-themed novel during a recent surge of nonviolent protests by artists, poets, musicians, and other creative young people in Cuba. Their demand for freedom of expression was met with violent arrests and long prison sentences. Violating drastic censorship standards was illegal, and so was protesting against censorship, or mentioning it on social media, or protesting the arrests of protesters. It’s such an extremely authoritarian society. For decades, I have avoided writing contemporary novels that could result in having my name added to the list of Cuban American authors who are not allowed to travel to Cuba, but it was time to take a stand. It’s time to take a stand in the U.S. too. School districts in many states are banning books simply because the characters are diverse. If we don’t speak out against that sort of racism and gender-based hatred, we risk plummeting into the trap of dictatorship. Once a society gives up any freedom of expression, there will be more and more censorship, until even private conversations are monitored by neighborhood spies, and art is a target for violent police actions. However, I do want to emphasize that Wings in the Wild is primarily a love story with a climate action theme. It is not intended as a book about censorship.
Padma Venkatraman:
In addition to winning a stellar array of awards for your writing and being the author of such a vast collection of highly acclaimed books that span the range from picture books for the youngest book lovers to verse novels for young adults, you are also a botanist. Your love of nature is a theme we see in WINGS IN THE WILD, as well as many of your earlier books. Would you speak about this, and whether you feel a sense of urgency these days regarding threats to our planet?
Margarita Engle:
My degrees are in agronomy and botany. If there is one thing I hope readers will take away from Wings in the Wild, it is the desire to plant suitable native trees in whatever region they can transform through climate action. Every breath we inhale came from photosynthesis within a terrestrial or aquatic plant. There is no alternate source of oxygen for eight billion people. We can dream up all sorts of technological wonders, but green leaves are the readily available natural wonder, a simple place to put carbon dioxide so it won’t heat the atmosphere and drastically alter the climate. All we have to do---while simultaneously reducing carbon and methane emissions---is protect existing forests, and rewild deforested regions. Costa Rica is one of the current role models for rewilding, and as a result, endangered species of plants and animals are protected too. I wrote about Cuban refugees in Costa Rica because some of them were my relatives, but I also chose that setting because every time I go there, I’m inspired by nature, and by local people who protect natural habitats.
Padma Venkatraman:
So in a way I would say, WINGS IN THE WILD is both a story of love between two teens, as well as an ode to your love for nature and art…
Let’s end by speaking about educators who love your work. Do you have any hopes and suggestions for teachers who may wish to use WINGS IN THE WILD or any of your 2023 releases in the classroom? And/or links to resources that they might find useful?
Margarita Engle:
Simon and Schuster always provides excellent teaching guides for my books, on their website. In addition, I hope teachers will encourage any students who have ideas for climate action, such as planting a native species microforest on campus, or volunteering for an existing local tree planting program. In big cities, this is especially useful, because just as there are food deserts in poor neighborhoods, there are also heat islands due to the high ratio of pavement to vegetation.
I also hope secondary teachers will be willing to discuss the love story. No matter how difficult times are, people still fall in love. Communication and companionship give us hope.
Padma Venkatraman:
Thank you, Margarita, for bringing words of hope to our world. All best with WINGS IN THE WILD.
Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, memoirs, and picture books, including The Surrender Tree, Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, and Dancing Hands. Awards include a Newbery Honor, Pura Belpré, Golden Kite, Walter, Jane Addams, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt, among others. Margarita served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. She is a three-time U.S. nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Book Award. Her most recent books are Your Heart, My Sky, A Song of Frutas, Light for All, Rima’s Rebellion, and Singing With Elephants. Her next young adult verse novel is Wings in the Wild, and her next picture books are Destiny Finds Her Way, and Water Day.
Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California with her husband.
Facebook: Margarita Engle
Twitter: @margaritapoet
Instagram: @engle.margarita
Although Padma Venkatraman is the author of award-winning novels such as BORN BEHIND BARS (Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Random House) as well as THE BRIDGE HOME, A TIME TO DANCE, ISLAND’S END and CLIMBING THE STAIRS, she began by writing poetry. Her poetry has been published in literary magazines, including, most notably, Poetry magazine. She is the winner of a WNDB Walter Dean Myers Award, Golden Kite Award, Crystal Kite Award, two Nerdy Book Awards, two Paterson Prizes, three South Asia Book Awards and many other awards and honors. Her novels have been shortlisted for over 20 state awards, received over 20 starred reviews, appeared on numerous best book lists, such as the ALA Notable, NYPL Best Book, Kirkus Best Book, Booklist editor's Choice and Junior Library Guild selection. Before becoming an American author, Dr. Venkatraman spent time under the ocean and in rainforests, served as chief scientist on oceanographic research vessels where she was the only BIPOC female, and also worked as a teacher and diversity director. When she’s not writing, she loves speaking to others about her love for books and her passion for diversity, equity and inclusion and has presented keynote addresses, conducted writing workshops and attended festivals and conferences around the world. She is the founder of www.diverseverse.com and www.authorstakeaction.com . Visit her and sign up for her biannual newsletter at www.padmavenkatraman.com ; arrange for a visit via https://theauthorvillage.com/presenters/padma-venkatraman/; follow her on twitter (@padmatv); (@venkatraman.padma) on fb and ig.
