First Draft Episode #211: Gabby Rivera

Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath, which is out in hardcover on September 17, and writer of the America Chavez series for Marvel Comics.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• I couldn’t find Gabby’s first article for Bustle, but she recently wrote about love for the online outlet again, with, “The Truth About ‘Big Love’ is You’ve Got to Manifest It For Yourself.”

• The Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City is where Gabby discovered her creative self and explored her sexuality

• Artist Mahogany L. Browne, author of Black Girl Magic and Woke Baby, was the host at the Nuyorican when Gabby was finding herself there

• Through The New York City Latina Writers Group Gabby got the chance to work with Alicia Anabel Santos and her mentor, Vanessa Mártir, co-author of Do Something! A Handbook for Young Activists

• The training-program.page"> Made in NY PA Training Program

• Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio

• Ariel Gore, writer of We Were Witches and Hexing the Patriarchy: 26 Spells, Potions, and Magical Elixirs to Embolden the Resistance) reached out to Gabby when she was putting together Portland Queer, which won the LAMBDA Literary Award for best anthology

• The Dreamyard Project

• Gabby’s experience of moving back in with her parents to finish Juliet Takes a Breath is similar to the story Stephanie Garber shared about Caraval on this very podcast! Listen to Stephanie’s episode here

• Lori Perkins, founder of the L. Perkins Agency and Riverdale Avenue Books

• When Patricia Arquette accepted the Oscar for Boyhood, she stirred controversy with her speech

• High Art with Allie Sheedy and Gia with Angelina Jolie were some of Gabby’s first LGBT movies (and her mom’s exposure to lesbianism was The Singing Nun’s “Dominique”)

• Autostraddle is one of the largest lesbian source of news

• Roxane Gay tweeted about Juliet Takes a Breath

• Gabby worked at GLSEN, the LGBT education nonprofit

• Wil Moss and Sarah Brunstad were Gabby’s editors at Marvel

• Jo Volpe at New Leaf Literary

• Blankets by Craig Thompson was one of the first graphic novels Gabby read

• The quote I reference from Amy Poehler is from an episode of her “Ask Amy” series for Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls: “Great people do things before they're ready. They do things before they know they can do it. … Doing what you're afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that's what life is.”

• Some artists of color who inspire Gabby are Trinidad Escobar, author and illustrator of graphic memoir Crushed, and Lawrence Lindell, writer and illustrator of From Black Boy, With Love 

• Gabby was reading My Beloved World, the autobiography of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while writing Juliet Takes a Breath

• Don’t miss Gabby’s TED Talk!

• Gabby is writing a new comic series with studios.com/">Boom Studios, who made Lumberjanes

• The Sadie Nash Leadership Project

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

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Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

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