Felicia Luna Lemus

On growing up in LA, loving New York, Le Tigre, Patti Smith and drinking espresso...

Lucia Pajon: You live in New York, but Trace Elements… is set in Los Angeles. Big cities can swallow one whole but also inspire. Which city is “easier” (if there is such a thing) for a Mexican American like Leticia, or to put it in a different way, how would Leticia fare in New York?

Felicia Luna Lemus: As much as I loved living in Los Angeles, I absolutely love living in New York City. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it’s like for young, punky-cool girls to come of age in downtown Manhattan. In fact, my next novel is about exactly that. I call it my “O.C. girl goes NYC” book. The protagonist is totally out of her element and the adventures, chaos, and crushes that ensue are super exciting. As for Leticia, I’m not sure what her life would be like if she lived in New York City instead of Los Angeles. Maybe I’ll move her to NYC someday and let her grow up here.


LP: Leticia, the “heroine” of Trace Elements… is completely immersed in the Anglo-Saxon culture, most of her friends are American, but at the same time the strong and rich Mexican imagery of her childhood is always with her. And certainly her family made sure she spoke Spanish at home. Perhaps this an old argument; some people feel really fortunate to be brought up (or to move) within two cultures and see it as an advantage, others feel more detached and uprooted. Is alienation a word from the past?

FLL: I love to write about the intersections of seemingly disparate influences, cultures, and identities. Leticia is Latina and American. She’s femme, tough, street smart and sometimes a bookish sweater fag. She’s punk and reverent of Old World traditions and heritage. I’m a firm believer that these sorts of contradictions make for the most interesting people in real life and art.


LP: In a recent interview with Chicana author Myriam Gurba, I asked her about the visibility factor for Latin American authors, in particular lesbian or bisexual, I mean where’s everybody?, why is it so damned difficult? The niche audience is there, ready and waiting.

FLL: I am proud to be a queer Latina woman. That said, my job as an author is to, first and foremost, write compelling stories. If I did my job well, Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties and Like Son should ring true for readers regardless of their cultural, sexual, or gender identities. Culturally, it isn’t assumed that straight, white, male authors write for only straight, white, male readers; their authorial voice is deemed universal. In my opinion, there is absolutely no justified inherent reason why my authorial voice shouldn’t be allowed access to the same rights and privileges, and be held to the same standards.


LP: Like Son, your latest novel, explores love in the broadest sense. Love between Frank (the main character) and his father, his lover’s, his self-image. Frank, happens to be a man with a female body, but identity and not gender is what matters. Is a continuous search. Is that a personal search as well?

FLL: Like Son is the story of a man figuring out which parts of his upbringing and heritage he can hold onto, and which parts he must let go of to be the person he wants to be. Similarly, regardless of the gender he was assigned at birth, because he identifies as a man, his body is a man’s body. But really, what is at core in Frank’s story is his relationship to his familial and cultural legacy, not his identity, per se.


LP: In Like Son, trans man Frank Cruz’s father is diagnosed with terminal cancer. In Trace Elements… Leticia’s Nana ( Nan) has a stroke. Did you feel you had to use these critical situations as a catalyst for the main characters? Is death a subject that needs to be addressed in your books to keep things in perspective?

FLL: I didn’t set out for both stories to have a brush with death. I guess I just see death as part of life. That’s probably why the death of central characters has made its way into my first two novels.


LP: Where or who is Felicia in both your books?

FLL: In some freaky-fun Dr. Frankenstein (no pun intended) way every character in my books is partly Felicia by way of creation. But honestly the only true Felicia in my books is the one who is present as the author.


LP: Which one was more painful to write (if there was any pain)?

FLL: Both novels took a lot of focused and intense effort to complete, but I think I’d say Like Son was more emotionally challenging for me as an author. In part I think this was because I felt a huge responsibility to portray Nahui Olin (the historical figure whose portrait, taken by Edward Weston in 1924, graces the book’s cover) accurately and with historical respect. She was the original inspiration for my novel (and for my entire writing career, in fact—the Weeping Woman character in Trace Elements started as fictional sketches about her). Nahui was a powerhouse of an artist, intellectual, and muse. She made her contemporary Frida Kahlo look like a nun. But she was also a very dark and sad person. I think her melancholy affected me as I wove her into Frank’s family history.


LP: What or who inspires you?

FLL: There are too many people to list, but some of the people whose work, aesthetic innovations, and drive inspire me these days include: Eileen Myles, Michelle Tea, T Cooper, Justin Bond, Matthew Barney, Yoshitomo Nara, and Walter Benjamin. I’m also deeply compelled by music. Le Tigre, M.I.A., The Need, Fugazi, and Patti Smith ground me when my brain gets filled with too much static.


LP: What have you got planned for the near future?

FLL: World domination! No; I’m working on my third novel right now. Other than that, I’m planning to drink another espresso in a few minutes, plant flowers in the garden come springtime, and hopefully feed my wanderlust with some travel sometime this year. I’d love to visit London and Paris or maybe Mexico. I’m pretty sure the espresso will materialize; the rest—we’ll see what happens.


LP: Many thanks for letting us peek into your world.

FLL: Thank you!