WELCOME!
Thank you for taking an
interest in me
and my work.
I invite you to roam
around my website and
learn more about me,
my books
and other publications.
You can also get some insight
into projects and interests
that keep me busy in
Tucson, Arizona.
Click HERE to learn more
about my books
NEWEST BOOK
In the Shadows of The Freeway:
Growing Up Brown & Queer
Released Nov. 23, 2019
"A searing memoir of legacy, loss, and love. Infusing historical research with childhood memories, Lydia Otero poignantly reveals the weight of urban development on Mexican communities in postwar Tucson. With rare insight, In the Shadow of the Freeway is a singular contribution to Latina/o history, urban studies, queer theory, and gender studies."
Vicki L Ruiz
University of California, Irvine
Click here to read reviews and learn more about
In the Shadows of the Freeway.
On Sale for $15.95
(plus $3.00 shipping)
Order now directly from the publisher via PayPal and your book will arrive in 4 to 7 business days.
NOTITAS:
SELECT COLUMNS FROM THE TUCSON CITIZEN
by
Alva B. Torres
Compiled by Lydia R. Otero
Alva B. Torres continues to inspire me to this day. It was her role in historic preservation that drew my attention as I began the research that culminated in the publication of my book, La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City in 2010. Before writing her weekly columns — on which Notitas is based — Torres had organized the Society for the Preservation of Tucson’s Plaza de la Mesilla or La Placita Committee, the most formidable resistance effort to urban renewal that targeted Tucson’s oldest barrios in the late 1960s.
This photo of us was taken in 2016 at an awards ceremony.
2021
Tucson Festival of Books
"Arizona authors Alberto Álvaro Ríos and Lydia R. Otero will discuss their newest books, both of which explore the power of place and community along the border. How much is lost when families are dislocated altogether? Living where we do, these are things for all of us to think about."
Barrio Stories
Lydia Otero's book La Calle inspired an outdoor, site-specific theatrical event, Barrio Stories, produced by Borderlands Theater in 2016 in Tucson’s downtown area. More than 5,000 people attended the play, which was designed to recover the history of a barrio declared expendable by city leaders who purposely devised an urban renewal program to demolish it in the late 1960s. Impressive and grand, the event ran for four days in a space larger than two football fields. It featured forty-one principal actors, required more than a hundred volunteers, and involved about thirty production specialists in set design, sound, media, and choreography. Click here to lean more about the production.
Select Articles &
Book Chapters
Authored by Lydia Otero
Works based on archival research and oral history that highlight my Latinx and historical studies scholarship
Interviews and News Items
Interested in more news items, interviews and publications that have quoted or featured Lydia Otero?
Find more here.
