{"id":52364,"date":"2023-06-21T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?p=52364"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:16:33","slug":"writing-latinos-hector-tobar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/writing-latinos-hector-tobar\/","title":{"rendered":"H\u00e9ctor Tobar on \u201cOur Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of \u2018Latino\u2019\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing Latinos<\/em>, from Public Books<\/em>, features interviews with Latino (a\/x\/e) authors. We discuss their books and how their writing contributes to the ever-changing conversation about the meanings of latinidad.<\/p>\n

We recently caught up with H\u00e9ctor Tobar to discuss his new book, Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of \u201cLatino.\u201d<\/em><\/a> Our conversation included mention of the pathbreaking historian Vicki L. Ruiz, to whom Tobar dedicated Our Migrant Souls<\/em>, as well as discussions on the literary influence of James Baldwin, the need for a revolution in how we talk about immigrants and immigration, Latino racial identity, and Tobar\u2019s own life and travels.<\/p>\n

Tobar is a writer based in Los Angeles and is a professor of literary journalism and Chicano\/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, a frequent contributor to the New York Times<\/em>, and the author of many other books, including The Last Great Road Bum<\/em>, Deep Down Dark<\/em>, and The Tattooed Soldier<\/em>.<\/p>\n