Overworked

Published by El BeiSmAn PrESs

In her new novel, “Overworked,” Associate Professor of Spanish and author Dr. Naida Saavedra explores the challenges of the immigrant experience through the story of a struggling educator, her family, and even her talking pets, a cat and bird.

The story follows Naty, who emigrated to the U.S. from an unspecified Caribbean country. Naty works as a college professor in the snowy northeast. At work, she struggles to navigate academia and various cultural mores, all while working well beyond the scope of her job description to provide guidance to immigrant students. But her work doesn’t stop on the clock. Outside the classroom, Naty is also striving to support herself, her children, her partner, and, of course, her conversational pets, who dialogue in the literary tradition of Virgina Woolf (a writerly hero of Saavedra’s). 

“Naty is trying to define herself as a professor, a woman of color, a mother, partner, and immigrant,” said Saavedra. “She has all these things on her shoulders, but she deals with them because she’s looking to build a stable life for her family.”

“Overworked” is Saavedra’s first novel. Previously, she’d written mostly short fiction and nonfiction. Of particular note, she wrote (and coined the term) “New Latino Boom.” Published in 2020, the book traced the explosion of literature written and published in Spanish in the United States during the 21st century. 

“This was a movement born in the margins,” said Saavedra, who teaches courses on Latin American and Latinx literature in the Department of World Languages. “These authors had few outlets to print or publish their work in the U.S. So they started their own imprints, and these efforts have given way to a new industry.” 

Saavedra views “Overworked” as part of this movement. In addition to being written in Spanish, she said the book was inspired by numerous authors working in the U.S. who write in Spanish, including Pedro Medina León, María Mínguez Arias, Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, and Carolina Herrera. She noted as well that the book’s Chicago-based publisher, El BeiSmAn PrESs, is one of the New Latino Boom’s pioneering imprints. 

As for the title of her novel, Saavedra opted for English because there is no direct translation of the word “overworked.” “It can be difficult to explain to someone who is not an English speaker what this word means. I wanted to define the concept in Spanish in the text of the novel,” she said. 

While serving to unpack the concept of being “overworked,” Saavedra added she hopes the book ultimately helps to amplify voices and stories in immigrant communities. This, she said, is particularly important in today’s political and social climate. 

“People can become kind of numb due to overexposure to some of the awful stories they see in the news. They think when something happens so frequently, it’s not news anymore,” she said. “Literature has a beautiful power to offer another perspective. It’s another way to give a voice to those who are afraid to share their stories. As an artist, we have the duty to support our communities. As an author, this is my way to do that.”

-Dave Eisenberg