mini-interview with Ursula Villarreal-Moura
I feel like I've been internet acquainted with Ursula for a long time. She was among some of the people I connected with on Twitter early on, and we maintained a friendly connection since then. Early in the pandemic we struck up an ongoing correspondence that ebbed and flowed. Over all this time we've celebrated each other's wins and losses, and now I'm happy to celebrate her latest book, Like Happiness, out 3/26/24. It's described as "A searing debut about the complexities of gender, power, and fame, told through the story of a young woman’s destructive relationship with a legendary writer." Like Happiness has been named an Indie Next pick, and a Most Anticipated Book by Today, ELLE, Electric Literature, Them, HipLatina, LGBT Reads, Debutiful, LA Daily News, and more.
Ursula Villarreal-Moura was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Like Happiness, a novel, and Math for the Self-Crippling, a flash fiction collection.
As is my mini-interview practice, I asked Ursula to respond to three to five questions from a total of eight offered.
Who/what are you most recently obsessed with?
The 1991 film Mississippi Masala. It isn't a recent obsession but I'm always in love with sunsets. Check this one out from last night in my neighborhood. No filter, yo!
How do you process what's currently going on in the world?
I'm not sure if I'm processing the world in a healthy way, but I try to strike a balance between bearing witness to the genocide in Gaza/West Bank and activating my parasympathetic nervous system. I chant and hum. I take walks. I protest in the streets, organize on the local level, and run in nature. I also still wear a mask in public indoor spaces because I remain steadfast in my commitment not to spread or catch Covid, or any respiratory viruses. I write and read and have long conversations with my spouse and kiss my cat Selena until she's had enough.
What's on your to-read and/or to-watch stack?
My to-read list is long. It includes Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Witches by Brenda Lozano, Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije, The Coin by Yasmin Zaher, Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto by Kōhei Saitō, Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, The Story Game by Shze-Hui Tjoa, and Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. I still haven't read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, so I want to read it this summer and feel hopeful about societal change. On my to-watch list is Dario Argento's filmography.
In your recollection, how do we know one another?
I believe we met virtually via Twitter circa when your first book came out or before. I loved your story “Jumbo” that appeared in a now-defunct online magazine. We met IRL in Tampa at AWP and I chronicled it in the photos below.
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