~ essays and op/eds
‘I do not want you to escape the real world’, Pen Transmissions, 10 May 2022
‘White latinos’ London Review of Books, 5 November 2020
‘Sexual assault survivors don’ owe anyone their stories: A Manifesto Against Telling the Truth’ Electric Literature, 23 July 2019
How Identity Can Be Where We Begin To Reimagine Ourselves Vogue, 11 Dec 2018
How Tinder Can Take Back the White House The New York Times, 22 June 2017
Why UK feminists should care about the Brazilian president’s impeachment i paper, 1 September 2016
~lit crit
Where to Start: Zadie Smith, Guardian, 27th May 2022
‘Inside the black box: a fight for justice’, Brixton Review of Books, Issue 15, Autumn 2021
Palmares by Gayl Jones review – a long-awaited vision of freedom The Guardian, 29 September 2021
‘Stages of family life in Claudia Hernández’s Slash and Burn The Times Literary Supplement, 28 May 2021
‘Permafrost by Eva Baltasar review – a wolf howl against drudgery and bad sex’ The Guardian, 30 April 2021
Lana Del Rey’s poetry debut review – sometimes cliche, always solipsistic The Guardian, 29 July 2020
Geovani martins’s THE SUN ON MY HEAD The White Review, August 2019
Top 10 bilingual books The Guardian, 17 April 2019
~interviews
‘Revolution – that’s what I’m hungry for’, The Observer, by Anthony Cummins
Yara Rodrigues Fowler on Why hope is a Radical Act, Huck, by Diyora Shadijanova
// Stubborn Archivist
‘Meet the hottest tippest debut novelists of 2019 in the Observer, by Alice O’Keefe
‘The oppressive weight of the British novel’ in Review 31 by Stephanie Sy-Quia
‘A conversation with Yara Rodrigues Fowler’ in Litro by Cindy Withjack
‘Double lives healing and alegria: Yara Rodrigues Fowler on ‘Stubborn Archivist’ in Sounds and Colours by Sarah Jacobs
‘In conversation with Yara Rodrigues Fowler on her debut novel: Stubborn Archivist’ in Skin Deep by Dhruva Balram
Q&A | Yara Rodrigues Fowler readingwomenpodcast
‘In Conversation with the Stubborn Archivist’ in Shado Mag by Carolina Abbott Galvão
‘I wanted to write a novel that felt really oral’ in Minor Literatures by Silvia Rothlisberger
‘I love you, I forgive you, and I move on’ Somos podcast
‘Yara Rodrigues Fowler’ Little Atoms (podcast)
The Sunday Salon: Yara Rodrigues Fowler on local living and how mental health affects creativity (podcast)
‘Yara Rodrigues fowler’ Unsound Methods (podcast)
Alia Trabucco Zeran & Yara Rodrigues Fowler at Rich Mix London #FLAWAfestival (podcast)
~ reviews & praise for Stubborn Archivist
‘I read Stubborn Archivist in a ravenous gulp. It’s stunning: so articulate about what it means to live between two languages and countries, tenderly unravelling the knots of unbelonging’
— Olivia Laing (Crudo, The Lonely City)
‘Never read anything like it, such fluid yet staccato prose, such a rich contemporary story’
— Inua Ellams (Barbershop Chronicles, Half-God of Rainfall)
‘Stubborn Archivist is an intimate and wonderfully resourceful exploration of origins. In its quest to uncover what a person is made of it digs deeply into the living body, as well as tracing back through its tangled roots. Visceral and elegant, circumspect and vivid, Yara Rodrigues Fowler has a distinctly unhampered way of telling a story; I liked Stubborn Archivist very very much’
— Claire-Louise Bennett (Pond)
‘Every page oozes with caustic wit, despair and self-awareness, creating a lyrical debut that pushes the novel form like no other in recent years. A talent to watch’
— Nikesh Shukla (The Good Immigrant)
‘My goodness. Yara Rodrigues Fowler has conjured a work of rare power, startlingly original form, and devastating beauty. This novel is a triumph’
— Musa Okwonga (The Good Immigrant)
‘We are being shown a mind sidling up to pain, touching it briefly, retreating into silence; the white space also giving the reader a little room to breathe…. [Rodrigues Fowler] is acute about sexual politics; about long marriages; about being smashed and putting oneself together again.’
One of the Observer’s ‘hottest-tipped debut novelists of 2019’
‘…unlike any other book you’ve read… Flitting nimbly through generations, between Brazil and south London, between dating and dictatorship, this is a novel that is personal and political – and its unusual form is integral to its power.’
One of Elle UK’s ‘One’s to watch: The New Writers We’re Excited To Read In 2019’
‘This novel beautifully explores the notion of home, belonging and trauma…a unique book you’ll be able to read in one immersive sitting.’
One of the Independent’s ‘30 of the best new debut novels to read in 2019’
“Refreshingly experimental”
“Compelling…should delight anyone looking for a thoughtful, witty successor to Sally Rooney” — Alexander Larman, The Observer
‘…[T]his is undoubtedly the novel’s strength: its ability to show something momentous – about cultural identity, sexual violence, racial prejudice – without seeming to say anything at all.’
Ellen Jones, TLS (behind a paywall)
‘Yara Rodrigues Fowler has written something extraordinary, playing with structure to create an insightful, lyrical and visceral novel’
— Sarah Shaffi, Emerald Street
‘Rodrigues Fowler’s debut novel is a timely exploration of what it means to understand past and present and the delicate balance of embracing two cultures simultaneously…Original and thought-provoking, this is a book that’s well worth your time’
One of Grazia’s ‘Five female authors to read before everyone else does’
‘…unlike so much else that we’re told is a ‘strong female voice’ today… charming, pithy and moving’
‘… a daring debut novel … it feels completely new, even though these stories have been told by word-of-mouth through generations of immigrant women. We need more novels that make people like me feel deeply seen as an immigrant, a Brazilian woman, and a daughter.’
‘Stubborn Archivist is a little like finding someone’s notebook on a long train journey and reading it cover to cover by the time you reach your destination.’
Rebecca Smith, The Skinny‘A visceral experiment in form and language…. Yara Rodrigues Fowler’s novel is an eloquent work of messiness, of ugliness.’ Cindy Withjack, Litro