Litany of Saints: Diana Rojas Author Talk

Come listen to a talk by local author Diana Rojas, author of the new work of fiction, Litany of Saints: A Triptych.

In the opening piece, “The Lives of Saints,” an immigrant family from Costa Rica regularly prays to a litany of saints to help deal with all that life throws their way—including alcoholism, marital discord, illness and death—all while adjusting to their new circumstances as “Americans.” Costa Ricans, or Ticos, living in the United States return to their native country in two of the three novellas in this thought-provoking collection. They discover it’s not the “Switzerland of Central America,” the perfect country with good healthcare, education and no standing army. In “La Familia,” Juan Manuel has made a life for himself in Chicago, but when his mother calls him home because his brother has been arrested as a terrorist, he faces an uncomfortable reckoning with his country’s involvement in regional violence as the Cold War spreads to Latin America.

Revealing the cultural dissonance experienced by immigrants, Diana Rojas’ characters grapple with their self-perception as they consider what they’re supposed to be and who they want to be. Issues of individualism versus community, loyalty to a distant homeland and a divided sense of identity pepper this intriguing debut.

Diana Rojas' debut fiction Litany of Saints: A Triptych was published by Arte Público Press in April 2024. A graduate of NYU, she has written in everything from large daily newspapers to niche newsletters. Diana grew up in Connecticut and New Jersey, has lived in five different countries and currently lives, taxed and unrepresented, in Washington, DC.