You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed,

or you are the only animal,

who can think, who can reason, who can read.

Hi, this is Michael Silverblad, and this is Bookworm.

Today, I am pleased to have with me two writers, Susan Campo and Susan Strait.

They are both from California, and their writing is very much involved with the communities in which they live.

Susan Strait is the author of Aquabuggy,

published very recently by Milkweed Editions.

In fact, it's the Milkweed National Fiction Prize.

Life after Death, Susan Campo's book was published by Faber and Faber.

Susan Strait lives in Riverside and writes about that community, which is very much a, what would it be called, transitional community, full of different cultures and backgrounds. She is herself, a woman

with blonde hair and blue eyes, and is frequently said to be answering people's surprise when they discover

that she's white. This community that you write about and which you've been praised for by the

likes of James Baldwin and David Bradley, it's so odd. Are you the voice of the community?

No.

I'm just Dwayne Sims' wife and Gayla's mom.

This community is predominantly black.

A lot of Mexican immigrants are moving in.

In the 40s and 50s, a lot of black people migrated from Oklahoma and Mississippi to work in the

defense plants in L.A. and in Riverside, they came to work at March Air Force Base. So the

community is primarily black, but it's real stable. It's been that way for a long, long time.

...