Kali Fajardo-Anstine aimed for stories reflecting “woven ancestry”

Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the nationally bestselling author of the novel “Woman of Light” and the short story collection “Sabrina & Corina,” a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of an American Book Award. She is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Fajardo-Anstine is the 2022–2024 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University. She is from Denver, Colorado.

SunLit: Tell us the backstory of “Woman of Light.” What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Kali Fajardo-Anstine: The idea for “Woman of Light” first came to me over 15 years ago. I was born with an innate hunger to write books and to be among them in any way…