Prairie Lights hosted author and translator, Bruna Dantas Lobato, to read her debut novel, “Blue Light Hours.” This coming-of-age story centers around a young woman at a liberal arts college in Vermont who communicates with her Brazilian mother via Skype.

Born and raised in Natal, Brazil, Lobato holds an MFA in Fiction from NYU, an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, and a BA in Literature from Bennington College. In 2023, she was awarded the National Book Award for Translated Literature for translating “The Words that Remain” by Stênio Gardel.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Daily Iowan: How does it feel to have written your first novel?

Bruna Dantas Lobato: It feels a little unreal. The writing feels real because it’s been done for a little while, and it feels nice to have been able to say all the things that I wanted to say. It was an exercise in: ‘Is this an immigrant story that can be rendered and be a successful book?’ So, when I pulled it off, that felt special. I’m excited to see what it will be like, now that it’s out to the world.

What inspired you to write “Blue Light Hours”?

Some of it was a personal experience: talking to my mom and spending a lot of time on the internet. I couldn’t think of a single book that showed digital intimacy or relationships like I had through the internet. I’ve read a lot of mother-daughter relationships that were very fraught and contentious and wondering if there was a way to write a mother-daughter story where they weren’t at odds or where they weren’t fighting. I wanted to show that love.

In an interview with the Iowa Review in 2019, the original title of your novel was said to be “Diversions.” Would you mind sharing why you chose the title “Blue Light Hours”?

[Diversions] was scaffolding; it was a guiding principle. I knew it wasn’t a title that was necessarily going to be the title for the book, but I had taped it to my desk when I was writing. Given that the tension wasn’t going to come from the two characters fighting, it was going to come from the fact that they want to be together, but they can’t be together because other things will come in their way. I kept thinking of diversions in that sense. When I did have a publisher and we were thinking about a title, we wanted a title that would capture the moodiness and sadness of the book.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who hope to publish their own books?

One — you have to keep at it and be relentless.

I’ve been working on this book for so long. I wrote the first scene ten years ago, so I think it’s important to not give up, even when you want to.

Two — be true to yourself.

I could have written a book that was nothing like me, just because I could. However, it was important to me to be true to what I actually wanted to say. Even if it didn’t sell, even if no one cared, I knew that I was working on something that was special to me.

What do you hope your readers take away from your novel?

I hope it will keep some people company when they’re lonely, [since there is a character] that is going through some loneliness as well. I also hope that they will see the people who are invisible in their communities a little bit better. Maybe, it will remind them to call their mom from time to time.