Meet Leticia Urieta | Writer, Community Teaching Artist and Writing Programs Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leticia Urieta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leticia, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have been writing and creating stories since I was very young, even before I could really read fluently. I struggled with reading until 2nd grade, but I loved stories and wanted to be able to create my own. When I was in 4th grade I spent a lot of time outside with my friends working on a 70 page novel that is probably the most productive as a writer I have been in my whole life. In high school, I continued writing poetry and short stories but also got into writing fanfiction with my friends, which increased my love of reading and storytelling. When I decided to pursue a creative writing degree in college, I think that is when I decided that being a writer and creator was going to be a huge part of my career and future. Being an author in a young person’s dreams has looked much different for me than what I originally imagined. It has also included teaching writing to youth and adults, interviewing and featuring other writers in my freelance work and participating in collaborative performance and writing projects. Those surprises have been the highlights of my career so far and as much as I value my own person stories, I will always make room for more collaborative storytelling practices.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
While it is hard to pinpoint any one accomplishment, I am most proud and energized by how unencumbered my work has become now. As a writer whose goal is to publish and share my work, it is necessary to think of how to make an engaging story, but I think I have reached a point as a creator where I can embrace the weird in my stories and let the doubts go that my work may be too strange, too unsettling or difficult to connect to. When I have these doubts, I have been proven wrong time and time again. Because much of my work in the last few years speaks to the affects of trauma and chronic illness on the body, I feel that it is necessary to write the truest forms of my stories. Horror and speculative fiction, as well as poetry, have been the vehicles that have let me explore these stories in ways that feel real and authentic to me, and I hope to keep exploring ways to make others feel seen or understood, while also making people outside of my experience feel scared, unsettled, uncomfortable in ways that make them consider other people’s perspectives. It is also my goal to read and share as much work as possible that makes me feel the same way, both connected and unsettled, and to create spaces where other writers and artists can explore the weird in their own work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As a person born and raised in Austin, TX, the city is constantly changing, in some ways for good, but in many ways that have made Austin a challenging place to live due to income inequality, gentrification and a lack of affordable housing. So when folks visit me, I like to highlight places that to me continue to serve the community despite of or in the face of these issues. I would certainly take them on a tour of Austin’s local independent bookstores, who have been community partners and supporters of my work, and for whom I have worked closely with, including Resistencia Bookstore, Bookwoman, Malvern Books and BookPeople. I would also take them to the Pflugerville Public Library, since I have lived in Pflugerville for a decade now and go to this wonderful local library multiple times a week for the amazing selection and engaging programs.

I would take them to the Mexi-Arte Museum, the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center or La Pena for to experience local artists and Mexican American history in Austin.

We would drive to the hilltop at St. Edward’s University, where I used to teach, to see the Austin skyline, and then I would take them to brunch at Kerbey Lane, where I have been eating pancakes, bacon and blackbeans with cheese since I was two years old. Finally, if we wanted some outdoors time, I would take them to swim at Deep Eddy pool, or on a hike at the Greenbelt or Walnut Creek Park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The first person I would have to thank is my mother, Christi Marrufo, who always supported my love for writing even when I struggled as a child. I would also want to highlight the two biggest storytellers in my family, my grandfather Durwin whose stories were always a big part of any gathering, and my grandmother Ines Santos who was a beautiful unpublished poet and who introduced me to Lorca and Neruda.

I would also like to highlight the community that I met through Red Salmon Arts/Resistencia Bookstore in Austin, Tx, including the Executive Director and Caretaker Lilia Rosas, who has been a wonderful supporter of my creative work and a steadfast community partner for our youth workshops. My friend Sarah Rafael Garcia, founder of Barrio Writers and Libromobile has also been a person who shaped my creative life and career, as she got me involved in teaching with and eventually becoming Co-director of the Barrio Writers Youth workshop in Austin and Pflugerville, Texas. I also met my wonderful friend and colleague Tez Figueroa through this community who is now my Barrio Writers co-director and who has helped me to be a better organizer and writer in years that we have known one another.

The other creative mentors that I have met through Red Salmon Arts are Natalia Sylvester, Ire’ne Lara Silva and jo reyes-boitel, who have all read, edited and supported my work, even now through my first published book, Las Criaturas.

And finally, my husband and partner, Ramiro, who has always supported and pushed my work.

Website: https://leticiaaurieta.com/

Instagram: @leticiaasu

Twitter: @LeticiaUrieta

Image Credits
Ramiro Urieta