When Javier Zamora’s Solito, June’s California Book Club selection, was published in 2022, one thing critics repeatedly pointed out was the author’s distinctive voice. Zamora wrote as his child self to capture the harrowing events of his 1999 border crossing as a nine-year-old. Voice stands out in memoir when it generates a sense of intimacy between the reader and the narrative. This is the same intimacy that podcasters seek to produce, and to achieve it, the podcast may be narrated by the person to whom events happened, thereby communicating those events more directly to the listener. Like Solito, podcasts excel at suggesting political and sociological insights through personal storytelling.
The following five podcasts dive deeper into the context of the migration crisis, border crossing, and the political circumstances that surround Zamora’s memoir.
Yvette Borja’s Radio Cachimbona is a podcast series focused on the migration crisis in Southern Arizona and the radical and resilient migrants who make the crossing and advocate for change within a system set up to work against them. Her commentary focuses on the locations through which Zamora traveled to enter the United States. She provides critical political and legal context for his path from a leftist perspective and as a former lawyer. Like Zamora, Borja’s family fled El Salvador during the violence of the 1980s civil war, and she now lives in Southern Arizona.
Firsthand narratives in migrant storytelling create a sense of urgency and relatability, as well as empathy, for listeners. They demand that you take notice. On the podcast Immigrantly, immigrants and people of color are at the center of each episode, telling stories of joy, culture, heritage, and resilience. The podcast is powerful enough to have spun off into a media network of shows specifically highlighting the voices of first- and second-generation immigrants, often speaking for themselves. A recent episode by Daniel Alvarenga looks at the impact of El Salvador’s civil war on Salvadoran Americans and the role of U.S. foreign policy in spurring on the war and displacing families.
For further context on the civil war in El Salvador and its ensuing violence, which propels much of Zamora’s immigration story, listen to Alvarenga’s own narrative podcast, HUMO: Murder and Silence in El Salvador. It follows crime, censorship, and corruption in 2021 El Salvador. Recorded in both English and Spanish, the podcast begins with the discovery of a mass grave, then moves backward in time to explore El Salvador’s place on an international stage and the role of U.S. intervention in stoking historical violence. At the heart of this show are the Salvadorans working for justice: parents missing their children, journalists forced into hiding, and neighbors uniting to create a safer country.
Stories of migration in hopes of a better life sometimes lead to just that: better lives at the end of the journey, full of new hope. Two podcasts explore those vibrant lives while still acknowledging the complexities of an immigration system that can leave people in limbo long after they cross borders. My Undocumented Ass Podcast, by Che Guerrero, “who has been facing his undocumented problem for 30 years,” brings influencers and activists to the mic to have real—and often very funny—conversations about living with undocumented legal status and the struggles that unite undocumented people. The podcast also looks at issues that can be exacerbated by individuals’ immigration status, like domestic violence and lack of access to mental health care.
Navigating another aspect of the legal system, Asylum Speakers Podcast with Jaz O’Hara: Stories of Migration finds its guests in refugee camps and at border crossings, as well as in restaurants, on film sets, and on football pitches. Once again, diversity and autonomy in storytelling are at the center of these episodes—often the most compelling stories are those we hear firsthand, created by those given the freedom to speak their reality.•
Join us on June 20 at 5 p.m. Pacific time, when Zamora will sit down with CBC host John Freeman and special guest Ingrid Rojas Contreras to discuss Solito. Register for the Zoom conversation here.
DIFFICULT JOURNEYS
Read cultural critic Chris Vognar’s piece on movies about the immigrant experience. —Alta
KINK
CBC editor Anita Felicelli profiles R.O. Kwon and talks with the author about her stunning second novel, Exhibit. —Alta
WRITTEN WITH EMPATHY
Read journalist Sonia Paul’s interview with author Carvell Wallace about his new memoir, Another Word for Love. Wallace says that his “allegiance is to the story first.” —Alta
PIONEERING COMPUTER GAMES
Author and Alta Journal contributor Joy Lanzendorfer writes about Roberta Williams, the founder of Sierra On-Line, a company that made PC games that inspired Lanzendorfer, before gaming became hypermasculine. —Alta
JUNE BOUNTY
Don’t miss the 14 dazzling books by authors of the West coming your way this month, including Patrick Nathan’s The Future Was Color, Molly Giles’s Life Span, Alex Espinoza’s The Sons of El Rey, and Rachel Howzell Hall’s What Fire Brings: A Thriller. —Alta
POLITICAL MEMOIR
Gavin Newsom is writing a book, which he has been working on for four years. —Los Angeles Times
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