Romina Garber is the author of the young adult novels Lobizona and Cazadora, her Wolves of No World duology, now available in a new collector's edition. She was born in Argentina and raised in Miami.
Q: What led to this new collector’s edition of your Wolves of No World duology?
A: The Saint Paul Public Library selected Lobizona for this year’s citywide book club, a program called Read Brave.
In March, following the ICE surge in the Twin Cities, I spoke with students at eight schools and even shared the stage with the mayor for a powerful discussion about community and resilience. We were introduced by Library Board Chair and Councilmember Saura Jost, who thanked me “for giving our city a story that we needed, one that helped us connect, recover, heal, & understand one another during one of the most difficult challenges that our city has ever faced.”
It was one of the most moving experiences of my life, and my publisher and I both agreed that if this story about witches and werewolves could give teens the tools for discussing fear and belonging, then maybe it was time to give the series a refresh. After all, books are empathy incubators, and if there’s one thing we could all do with more of right now, it’s empathy.
Q: How did you create your character Manuela?
A: With Manu, I wanted to introduce a character who was a perpetual outsider. In our world, her residency isn’t legal. Among the Septimus, she’s not a bruja, but the first lobizona. Manu is undocumented in the literal sense: No one like her has ever been documented before.
She’s not a human or a Septimus. She’s someone new entirely.
One of Manu’s friends, Diego, says it best in Lobizona: “When someone deviates from an accepted norm, they signal a gap in the system. A hole that hasn’t been plugged. The danger with exposing a foundation’s failings is it opens the door to the possibility that it’s a faulty structure altogether and should be torn down and built anew.”
Q: How much did Argentinian folklore inspire the writing of these novels?
A: Very much! I studied Guaraní stories about the lobizón, and I based the existence of the Septimus on a real Argentine law. The ley de padrinazgo presidencial 20.843 declares the president of Argentina godparent to the seventh consecutive son or daughter in a family. It’s still in effect today, and it harkens back to a time when people feared that seventh children were cursed to turn into monsters.
The fact that such an outrageous belief could have once taken root in a population and even concretized into an actual law made me think of the power of words. In particular, I thought of the term illegal, and how it negates a people’s humanity and worth, paving the way for subhuman treatment.
Q: Especially given the current focus on immigration, what do you hope readers take away from the books?
A: I hope readers think about the power of words and labels. After spending 700 pages in Manu’s shoes, I hope they agree that people matter more than paperwork. Everyone deserves a chance to flourish.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: It’s been too many years since I’ve had space to explore, without deadlines looming over me, so that’s what I’m doing now! After publishing eight YA novels, I think I’m ready to take on a new challenge . . . . More to come!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Signed copies are available for purchase from Books & Books!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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