Jimmy Santiago Baca

Jimmy Santiago Baca is revered for his acclaimed memoir A Place to Stand, the story collection The Importance of a Piece of Paper, and for his poetry, but he hasn't published a novel until now. A Glass of Water is a gripping tale of family, loyalty, ambition, and revenge, which offers us a glimpse into the tragedies unfurling at this very moment at and around our country's borders. The promise of a new beginning brings Casimiro and Nopal together when they are young immigrants, having made the nearly deadly journey across the border from Mexico. They settle into a life of long days in the chili fields, and in a few years their happy union yields two sons, Lorenzo and Vito. But when Nopal is brutally murdered, the boys are left to navigate life without her. "For years I'd stored stories in my head with the intention of someday spinning them into a novel," Baca told Publishers Weekly. "I'd share them with friends over dinner, and as I told and retold them, they'd mature and ripen. With each telling, I'd become more intimate with the characters, where they lived, how they arrived, what their backstory was. But when I finally sat down to write it all down, I was completely thrown off course. The main character I had had in mind all that time took a backseat, and another character stood front and center. It was a woman instead of a man. She simply came forth and made it known that the story would be told through her eyes and experience."

At the Festival: A Glass of Water