Author of best-selling tales set in Mexico to speak at free Tri-Cities event

Author Sylvia Moreno-Garcia has combined her knowledge of Mexico with a vivid imagination to become a best-selling author.

On Thursday she’ll be in Tri-Cities, Wash., to talk about her books, answer questions and sign copies for the Mid-Columbia Libraries’ literary festival and to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Moreno-Garcia moved to Canada as an adult, but Spanish is her native language and Mexico is the setting for most of her novels.

Most recently released was “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau,” a dreamy reimagining of the classic 1896 sci-fi novel by English author H. G. Wells.

She likes that literary time period, before science fiction had a name and before the genre had taken shape, she said.

She moves the action to 19th century Mexico City and turns the story into a historical novel with a bit of science fiction, she said.

Her favorite to write was “Untamed Shore,” which is out of print but will be re-released next year.

She’s partial to it because it’s set in the Mexican state of Baja California, where she grew up.

It’s a 1970s coming of age story combined with noir crime fiction, she said.

She got her start as an author in 2006 writing short stories that were published in tiny magazines.

Seven years later her first short story collection was published and after that her first novel, “Signal to Noise,” which she describes as “both a coming of age story and a tale of middle age regret, anchored by music and magic.”

Since then she has won the Locus and British fantasy awards for her work as a novelist and the World Fantasy Award as an editor. She is a New York Times best-selling author for her 2020 gothic horror novel “Mexican Gothic.”

“Long-term writing careers take tenacity and staying power,” she said. “... It’s a long game, not a short game.”

She will speak and take questions as the featured author of Mid-Columbia Reads literary festival at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Columbia Basin College Gjerde Center, 2600 N. 20th Ave., Pasco.

Martin Valadez, chairman of the Mid-Columbia Libraries Board, will moderate.

A book signing, with books available to purchase, will follow at 8:30 p.m. The event is free.