I wrote the story as an exploration of the immigrant identity. It’s also the book teen-me needed: A YA fantasy about Latinx brujas and lobizones who speak my languages, share my cultures, and make me swoon. Lobizona is a treatise on labels and a warning of what happens when we take language too literally. I knew I wanted to write about it, but rather than a straightforward fantasy, I opted to explore the mythologies we weave with our words every day.

When I researched the history of this law, I came across a superstition that claims seventh daughters will be born brujas and seventh sons will be lobizones. It declares the President of Argentina godparent to the seventh consecutive son or daughter in a family. Romina Garber: The inspiration behind the worldbuilding of Lobizona is a curious Argentine law that is still in effect today: ley de padrinazgo presidencial 20.843. Miss Print: What was the inspiration for Lobizona? “College She Wrote” came out every Sunday and was even nationally syndicated-that’s how I developed my voice and discovered that teens are my favorite audience. I went on to write for my school paper in high school, and I later interned at the Miami Herald, where I pitched a column to bring in more teen readers. I wrote my first poem that year, “Si yo fuera la luz,” and my Spanish teacher liked it so much that she submitted it to a writing contest at the local county fair, and I won first place. My teacher used to read to us from Shel Silverstein’s masterpiece Where the Sidewalk Ends, and I fell in love with words.

with my family when I was five but it was in fourth grade that I truly heard the English language for the first time. Romina Garber: I was born in Buenos Aires, and I immigrated to the U.S. Miss Print: Can you tell me a bit about your path as a writer? How did you get to this point? In a series grounded in Argentine folklore, Romina Garber’s Wolves of No World series is a timely commentary on the danger of labels and what can happen when we let society decide who does and does not have the right to be called “legal.” I’m thrilled to have Romina here to answer a few questions about this series and what else she has in store for readers.

Lobizona romina garber