HITJ's conversation with celebrated authors Katherine Vaz and Pedro Almeida Maia offers insight into the characters, stories, motivations, and narrative themes of these two prize winning writers of diaspora communities. Katherine Vaz has been the preeminent English language novelist about Portuguese and Azorean communities in the US since her first novel Saudade was published in 1994. Her subsequent writing, including the novels Mariana (selected by the Library of Congress as one of the 30 best books of 1998) and Above the Salt (a People Magazine book of the week) and short story collections Fado and other Stories (Drue Heinz Literary prize) and Our Lady of the Artichokes (Prairie Schooner Award) have cemented her place in the pantheon of American novelists exploring the depths of the immigrant communities in the US. Prolific author Pedro Almeida Maia, from São Miguel, Açores, has long has been celebrated as an original and vibrant voice in the islands, however, has recently earned national acclaim as the writer of prize winning works including Escrava Açoreana (2022), Ilha-America (2020), and his recently published Condenação (2025). In the episode, Vaz and Almeida Maia talk about the motivations and desires of their characters, interrogate the meaning of family in their fiction, and discuss the meaning of diasporic writing. They tell some behind the scenes stories about their writing, including the real life figures that serve as inspiration for some of their narratives. In a revelatory segment, Vaz also talks about her children's book writing, something she rarely speaks about.
In their opening segment, Gil and Miguel talk about a recent health fad that has made the humble sardine, once a cheap staple of the Portuguese diet, into a global luxury item, thinking about the commoditization of Portuguese culture for touristic consumption has damaged local communities.