Kathleen Alcalá, WHY STARS BURN

Kathleen Alcalá, author of Spirits of the Ordinary, The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island, and more, returns to the store for her latest novel Why Stars Burn, a novel-in-stories which introduces us to Sirena Diamond’s world and the mysteries that lie just below the glittering surface of life in Los Angeles.

Sirena Diamond is the child of Mexican immigrants who has grown up on the cusp of two cultures. When she isn't consoling her traumatized war veteran brother or entertaining her eccentric abuela with her pet duck, she is caught between a boyfriend trying to erase his past and a man whose past is an ever-changing story and her best friend without boundaries.

Kathleen Alcalá is the author of six widely regarded books. She has been recognized by Con Tinta, as a Whitely Fellow, a Hugo House Writer in Residence, and a founding editor of The Raven Chronicles. Her first novel, Spirits of the Ordinary, was republished in 2021 by Raven Chronicles Press. Kathleen was born in California to Mexican parents, and lives in the Northwest. Her work will be included in the PALABRA collection of the Library of Congress.

“Not one tale is like another, yet all together they form a beautiful whole, a world where one would like to stay forever.”
Ursula K. Le Guin on Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Elliott Bay Book Company