María Dolores Águila, "A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez" (Roaring Brook Press, 2025)

About this episode

The episode features an interview with children's author María Dolores Águila discussing her new book and her journey in publishing.

In my very special interview with children's author María Dolores Águila we discuss her multi-award winning new middle grade book, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez (Roaring Brook Press), published a few months back. We talk about her childhood, her journey to traditional publishing (finding her agent, Lindsay Auld, through the slush pile, no less), her dualness (at once Mexican and American) and her advice for up and coming authors. Maria has also published two popular picture books, with a third on the way next year. I'm already planning our next interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

People in this episode

Host: New Books

Guest: María Dolores Águila

Topics covered

• children's literature
• author journey
• publishing
• Mexican American identity
• writing advice

Keywords

• children's author
• middle grade book
• publishing journey
• Mexican American
• writing advice

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Roaring Brook Press

Books & works: A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez

More episodes of New Books Network

• Jake Dyble, "Managing Maritime Risk in Early Modern Europe: General Average in Law and Practice in Seventeenth-Century Tuscany" (Boydell Press, 2025) · June 12, 2026 · 36 min
• Ro Skelton, "“Naow’s Boutique” (Fall, 2025) · June 12, 2026 · 42 min
• Jeffrey R. Di Leo et al. eds., "Theory as World Literature" (Bloomsbury, 2025) · June 12, 2026 · 32 min
• Laurie D. Graham, "Calling It Back to Me: Poems" (Random House, 2026) · June 12, 2026 · 51 min
• Radio ReOrient Season 14 Round Up, hosted by Saeed Khan, Amina Easat-Daas, Marchella Ward and Claudia Radiven · June 12, 2026 · 47 min
• AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead with Andrew Sorota · June 12, 2026