And I totally forgot about that until you just mentioned it.ĮR: A big part of that book is girl gangs, so obviously there's going to be a lot of parallels. LR: That's so funny because when I was rewriting the novel, that was one of my resource materials. I like writing those girls who have a lot of attitude.ĮR: So, completely by coincidence, when I got my copy of Dealing in Dreams, I was reading Locas by Yxta Maya Murray. Nalah has attitude but it's like a physical thing as well, which I really love exploring. I like writing those girls who have a lot of attitude. Girls became precocious instead of really badass. I would read a lot of those.īut I can't recall specifically a female character that made me want to be like "Wow, she's tough." Sometimes it felt like they were all just precocious. Those kind of like, young boys who were doing violent things. Hinton's The Outsiders or A Clockwork Orange. LILLIAM RIVERA: I would veer more to characters that were a lot more strong, like Frankenstein or S.E. Do you remember seeing a lot of strong female characters as a young reader? We caught up with Rivera to talk about Las Mal Criadas, sisterhood, and her ideal soundtrack for the novel.ĮVA RECINOS: You write strong female characters, like Margot Sanchez from your previous novel The Education of Margot Sanchez, and Chief Rocka aka Nalah in Dealing in Dreams. Her work has also appeared in a number of publications - The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Cosmo for Latinas are just a few - and her previous YA novel, The Education of Margot Sanchez, was nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults list by the Young Adult Library Services Association. Through her writing, Rivera is crafting a space for strong Latinx characters in YA fiction. But her crew soon finds itself in what seems like an impossible mission, and Nalah must face new truths about her family - both her blood family and her chosen one. In Lilliam Rivera's YA novel, Dealing in Dreams, Nalah hopes to reach the Mega Towers and fight for Mega City's leader, Déesse. These are the words of 16-year-old Nalah, also known as Chief Rocka, leader of the girl gang Las Mal Criadas. If I learned anything from my blood family, it's that people will always fall short."
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