Andrés N. Ordorica
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Andrés N. Ordorica is a queer Latinx writer based in Edinburgh. Drawing on his family’s immigrant history and his own third culture upbringing, his writing maps the journey of diaspora and unpacks what it means to be from ni de aquí, ni de allá (neither here, nor there). He is the author of the poetry collection At Least This I Know. His writing has been shortlisted for the Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour, the Mo Siewcharran Prize and the Saltire Society’s Poetry Book of The Year. How We Named the Stars is his first novel. He serves as a trustee and board member for Artlink Edinburgh. He is passionate about advocating for increased opportunities for marginalised communities to engage with the creative arts.
How We Named the Stars
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‘Hearing you say my name was a way of seeing myself as I had never seen myself … you gave my name new meaning, new weight.’
Nerdy and shy, scholarship student Daniel de La Luna arrives at college nervous to meet his golden-haired, athletic roommate, whose Facebook photos depict a boy just like those who made Daniel’s school years hell.
Sam Morris is not what he had imagined, though. As the two settle into college life they drink tequila under the stars, go on long runs through snow-covered hills, explore freshman nightlife, and inch closer until they find themselves in love.
But their blissful first year is over all too soon. Daniel’s summer in his ancestral homeland of México becomes a rollercoaster of revelations, before his life is brutally upended by the unimaginable.
How We Named the Stars is a tale of love, heartache and learning to honour the dead. Daniel and Sam will leave you forever changed.
REVIEWS OF How We Named the Stars
‘In How We Named the Stars, Andrés N. Ordorica has crafted a radiant and deeply moving novel about the beauty and pain of love—for our partners, our families, and ourselves. An impressive emotional tour de force, and an extraordinary debut’ Christopher Castellani, author of Leading Men
‘Love and loss, freedom and security, sex and identity—Andrés N. Ordorica’s How We Named the Stars explores the desires and fears that live within us, that surface despite our attempts to tame or quiet them. In Ordorica's thoughtful prose, time becomes a character through which we come to learn the value of what can be gained when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to our deepest longings. The story of Daniel and Sam will be with us for years to come’ Eloisa Amezcua, author of Fighting Is Like a Wife
‘Andrés N. Ordorica has captured the crushing isolation of navigating an elite college for the first time, all while experiencing a powerful, yet unattainable first love. Named after his family’s late uncle, Daniel wrestles with the continued impact of loss even as he finds glimpses of comfort. This novel is an extended meditation on the relationship between joy and grief, and how it can bind and heal both a life and a family’ Analicia Sotelo, author of Virgin
‘How We Named the Stars is a novel of first love and last rites. Ordorica captures perfectly the challenges of building a life out of experience, out of allowing ourselves to feel everything. A beautiful tale of friendship and the comfort found in stories of the past and in the arms of elders, living and dead’ Richard Mirabella, author of Brother & Sister Enter the Forest
‘Andrés N. Ordorica has written an intimate, necessary story of first love, first loss, and the promise of new beginnings. This empowering novel is required reading for anyone struggling to uncover their most authentic self’ Zak Salih, author of Let’s Get Back to the Party
‘In Andrés N. Ordorica’s majestic novel, the emotional and intellectual life of Daniel de La Luna, a first-generation college student, is rendered beautifully, deftly. Belonging, for Daniel, is complicated by familial grief and self-doubt but a heart-shattering first love spurs him to cross and to erase the borders between him and those who love him. I’m especially moved by his bond with his Abuelo, which is impactful, instructive. Novels this well-written remind us reading is an intimacy, an immersive experience that enriches us beyond measure’ Eduardo C. Corral, author of Guillotine
‘Ordorica delves into love and loss in two places and two times to powerful effect’ Booklist
‘Told with authenticity and compassion, this unconventional love story redefines notions of fraternity’ Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
‘Dazzling. . . . a heartbreaking tale of a first-generation college student exploring his sexuality and roots while reckoning with grief. Ordorica portrays Daniel and Sam’s encounters with tenderness and heat, and Daniel’s aching and poignant narration. . . . is chock-full of wisdom’ Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
