The New Novel 'The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore'

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The New Novel 'The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore'"

All Of It with Alison Stewart – WNYC
Date: September 30, 2025
Guest: Anika Fajardo, author

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Main Theme and Purpose

This episode of All Of It celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring debut novelist Anika Fajardo and her acclaimed book, The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore. Host Alison Stewart and Fajardo explore cultural identity, family, ancestry, and the journey of self-discovery through the lens of Fajardo's own life and her protagonist, Dory Moore. The conversation navigates the intersections of memoir and fiction, the experience of biculturalism, and the role that mothers, grandmothers, and female ancestors play in shaping identity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Journey from Memoir to Fiction

• Origins as a Writer

  • Fajardo recounts that she began as a writer without intending to write memoir, but as she explored her stories, realized she was chronicling her real-life family and origins.
  • Quote: "I discovered the genre of memoir. And little by little I discovered I was telling the story of my family and my kind of unusual origins." (01:24 – 01:53)

• Transition to Novel Writing

  • Fajardo feels the skills from memoir writing—keeping readers engaged, character arc, love of metaphor, and symbolism—translate well to fiction.
  • Quote: "I think of writing a novel basically the same as writing a memoir, except that I've made up all the true things." (02:10 – 02:31)

2. Autobiographical Parallels

• Both Dory and Fajardo are of half-Colombian, half-Minnesotan descent and experienced a disconnect from their Colombian heritage, though with notable differences:
  • Fajardo's parents divorced, leading her to grow up in the US without contact with her Colombian family until adulthood.
  • Dory is orphaned in her 30s and is prompted by her aunt's dying wish to embark on a search for her roots in Colombia.
  • Quote: "...I do know what it's like to go back and to seek roots, to try to figure out who you are when a big part of you has been missing your whole life." (03:10 – 03:29)

3. Inspiration and Concept for the Novel

• The death of Fajardo’s maternal grandmother in 2016 inspired the idea of being surrounded by ancestral voices.
• She transformed this into a literal device for Dory: a chorus of deceased female relatives who comment on her life.
• Quote: "What if a character actually had voices talking to her and it just kind of went from there?" (03:42 – 04:15)

4. Writing for Adults vs. Young Readers

• Desire to write "the kind of book I wanted to read" led Fajardo to adult fiction after middle grade novels.
• Adult fiction lets her explore deeper character development, more elaborate settings, nuanced love stories, and a richer vocabulary.
• Quote: "Just being able to use the vocabulary...you’re much more free with vocabulary and with language when writing for adults." (04:50 – 05:18)

5. About the Protagonist, Dory Moore

• Dory, a cartographer, is out of work and struggling with direction—both literal and metaphorical.
• She's cautious, set in her ways, and hesitant to take risks, but her journey forces her to "go without maps" and step outside her comfort zone.
• Quote: "She’s fascinated by maps and is always trying to figure out where she’s going and kind of her place in the world." (05:34 – 06:08)

6. Loneliness and Belonging

• Dory’s uniqueness in a predominantly white Minnesota community, being an only child with two mothers, contributes to her persistent sense of loneliness and feeling out of place.
• Her latest loss deepens her isolation, leaving her unsure if she wants to emerge from it.
• Quote: "...you kind of almost get used to that feeling of loneliness, and you don’t really know how to break out of that." (07:16 – 07:41)

7. Dual Timeline Structure

• A spontaneous creative choice led Fajardo to develop alternating timelines: present-day Dory and her mother Maggie’s youthful exploits in 1989 Colombia.
• Recent experiences in Colombia informed vivid descriptions of setting and atmosphere.
• Quote: "I had just been to Columbia before that and...it just kind of came alive for me." (07:59 – 08:20)

8. Characterization of Dory’s Mother

• Maggie (Margaret) is fueled by wanderlust and an openness to new experiences, seeking to escape the constraints of her Midwestern upbringing.
• Her embrace of Colombia is as much about self-discovery and love of life as it is about romance.
• Quote: "She doesn’t really know what she’s searching for until she falls in love with Juan Carlos and he brings her back to Colombia." (08:24 – 08:56)

9. Call to Adventure & Heritage

• Dory’s trip to Colombia wasn’t previously considered; the journey is prompted by her aunt’s dying wish and a challenge from her eventual love interest about being a cartographer who hasn’t traveled.
• Quote: "How can you be a cartographer and not have gone anywhere?" (09:22 – 09:45)

10. Research and Cartography

• Fajardo immersed herself in mapmaking history and techniques, relying on books, websites, and her background as a research librarian.
• She includes a disclaimer in the novel noting possible technical inaccuracies, but relished the opportunity to learn and depict the field.
• Quote: "I had so much fun just learning about the history of map making." (10:12 – 10:52)

11. The Ancestral Chorus

• Dory’s guiding voices are not protective spirits, but a Greek chorus of opinionated female relatives who comment rather than direct, coming and going like viewers of a TV show.
• Quote: "They’re more weighing in on her life...they kind of all hang out and check in and see how she’s doing and then make comments about her." (11:06 – 11:56)

12. Colombia and Family Legacy

• Fajardo wants to portray Colombia as complex and beautiful, challenging narco stereotypes and highlighting the rich positive history and people.

• Quote: "I want to have it, this book, be an antidote to, you know, narcos or things like that...it’s a beautiful place filled with really beautiful people." (16:16 – 16:44)

• In Colombia, Dory discovers community, support, and a sense of belonging, both among expats and Colombians, which challenges her previous isolation.

• Quote: "This is the first time that she’s really found a group of people that are alive that are supporting her and really cheering for her." (17:03 – 17:08)

13. Dedication & Matriarchs

• Fajardo dedicates her novel to her grandmother Sally and the "madres, abuelas, and grandmothers" in her life—across both her American and Colombian families.

• Sally is remembered as vibrant, adventurous, and intellectually curious, a woman who defied the limits of her era.

• Quote: "She was an energetic, extremely energetic person, loved trying new things, was really active...She really embraced life." (17:35 – 18:15)

• The dual-language dedication reflects the author’s hybrid family and cultural experience.

• Quote: "Even though I haven’t spent a huge amount of time with them like they are, they’re very dear to me." (18:22 – 18:52)

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On Fiction and Memoir:
  "I think of writing a novel basically the same as writing a memoir, except that I've made up all the true things." — Anika Fajardo (02:13)
• On Seeking Roots:
  "I do know what it's like to go back and to seek roots, to try to figure out who you are when a big part of you has been missing your whole life." — Anika Fajardo (03:10 – 03:29)
• On Colombia's Complexity:
  "I want to have it, this book, be an antidote to, you know, narcos or things like that...that's not everything that it is and that it's a beautiful place filled with really beautiful people." — Anika Fajardo (16:16 – 16:44)
• On Ancestral Voices:
  "They’re more weighing in on her life...they kind of all hang out and check in and see how she’s doing and then make comments about her." — Anika Fajardo (11:06 – 11:56)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:24 – 01:53] — Origins of Fajardo's writing and memoir process
• [02:13 – 02:31] — Distinction between memoir and fiction
• [03:07 – 03:29] — Parallels between author’s life and Dory’s story
• [03:34 – 04:15] — Inspiration for ancestor voices motif
• [05:34 – 06:08] — Characterization of Dory Moore
• [07:16 – 07:41] — Exploration of loneliness in Dory's character
• [08:24 – 08:56] — Dory's mother's search for meaning/love
• [09:22 – 09:45] — Challenge to Dory’s worldview as a cartographer
• [10:12 – 10:52] — Mapmaking research and process
• [11:06 – 11:56] — The Greek chorus of ancestral women
• [16:16 – 16:44] — Fajardo’s intent in portraying Colombia
• [17:33 – 18:15] — Description of Fajardo's grandmother Sally

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Tone and Host-Guest Dynamic

The conversation is warm, inquisitive, and reflective, centered around themes of family, belonging, and the duality of cultural identity. Fajardo’s responses are thoughtful and personal, revealing her attachment to both the content and meaning behind her work. The interview maintains an accessible and engaging tone throughout.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a deep dive into Anika Fajardo’s The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore, blending her personal story and her literary vision. Through rich dialogue, listeners gain insight into the nuances of bicultural identity, the evolving nature of family, and the ache and artistry of self-discovery—making this not only an exploration of a novel but also a meditation on how we map our own lives and heritage.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are talking to debut novelists who write about Latin stories. Today we're speaking with Anika Fajardo about her book, the Many Mothers of Dolores Moore. In her mid-30s, Dolores, who goes by Dory, is suddenly alone due to the death of the woman who raised her, her aunt and her partner. Dory's mother Maggie went to Colombia in 1989 where she met Dory's father, Juan Carlos. But Dory doesn't know much about her life. She grew up in Minnesota with her guardians. That is until she makes good on her dying aunt's wish that she returned to Columbia to find out where she came from and a few other things. Dory has guides for the trip, her dead ancestors who visit her, and they have a few things to say about how things are going. The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore was named one of the 15 books to read this month by Book Riot. And Annika joins us now. Nice to meet you.

[Anica Fajardo]

Nice to meet you, Alison.

[Alison Stewart]

It was always your dream to write a novel for adults, but first came a memoir and then middle aged readers. Your memoir, Magical Realism for a Memoir of Finding Family came out in 2019. First of all, how did that memoir come to be?

[Anica Fajardo]

Well, I was such a beginning writer when I first started that I thought I was telling stories and it turned out I was actually writing true stories. And I discovered the genre of memoir. And little by little I began kind.

Of to learn how to write, to learn how to write a book length work.

And little by little I discovered I was telling the story of my family and my kind of unusual origins. And nine years later it was published.

[Alison Stewart]

Were there similarities writing a novel as opposed to writing a memoir?

[Anica Fajardo]

Yeah, I mean, one of the things.

That I learned from writing a memoir.

Is just the way that we kind.

Of keep the reader engaged, bring the character arc through the whole book.

I really love metaphor and symbolism.

And so I was able to kind of, I practiced that in my memoir and was able to pull in that those same kind of tools I think of writing a novel basically the same as writing a memoir, except that I've made up all the true things. You know, I've made up the setting, I've made up the people. And then I just tell what happens.

[Alison Stewart]

Are there similarities between your, your personal story and the story of Dolores?

[Anica Fajardo]

Yes, I always write about half Colombian, half Minnesotan characters because that is what I am. It's a very specific demographic. I was born in Columbia like do. Although my parents, my parents like hers, were one Minnesotan mother and a Colombian father. Unlike hers, mine lived. They got divorced is what happened. And my Minnesota mother brought me back to the United States and I grew up without any connection to my Colombian.

Background until I was 21. And I went back and visited for.

The first time and met my. Met my father and my father's side of the family for the first time. So I'm not an orphan like Dory, But I do know what it's like to go back and to seek roots, to try to figure out who you are when a big part of you has been missing your whole life.

[Interviewer/Host]

When did you sit down and start to write your book, the Many Mothers of Dolores Moore?

[Anica Fajardo]

I started about two and a half.

Years ago in 2016.

My maternal grandmother died, who I was very close to.

And after she died, I kind of still had this idea of her passing judgment on things in my life. Like, I wasn't making that apple pie right? Or maybe if I just added a little bit more flour, it would work. And I thought about the idea of, like, what if we have these. We kind of have these voices that talk to us, but what if a character actually had voices talking to her and it just kind of went from there? It's a very, like, flash idea for this character who's got these voices talking to her.

[Interviewer/Host]

As I mentioned, you wrote books for middle aged readers. What felt different about writing a novel for adults as opposed to middle agers?

[Anica Fajardo]

Well, as you said in the beginning. Yeah, as you said in the beginning, it's always been my dream to write an adult novel because that's primarily what I read. I ended up writing middle grade novels because I was raising a middle grade child at the time and I was reading so many of them. And so those, those voices of the. That I wrote about kind of came.

Very naturally to me.

But I really wanted to write the kind of book that I wanted to read and the kind of book that I am drawn to when I go to a bookstore or a library. Something that, you know, has, has a lot of character development, has a. Has a big setting, something that has a little bit of a love story, which is not very satisfying in a middle grade novel. And just being able to use the vocabulary, you know, you're much more free with vocabulary and with language when writing for adults.

[Interviewer/Host]

We're talking to author Anica Farhido about her debut novel. It's titled. It's a woman searching for her identity, traveling from the Midwest to Columbia it's called the Many Mothers of Dolores Moore. All right. How would you describe our protagonist, Dorie?

[Anica Fajardo]

Well, Dori is trained as a cartographer. She is currently out of work, but her search for kind of direction is. Is why she became a cartographer. She's fascinated by maps and is always trying to figure out where she's going and kind of her place in the world. And so she's a little bit cautious and pretty set in her ways. She does not take risks willingly. During the book, she has to kind of figure out how to step out of her comfort zone and kind of go without maps in life.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's interesting. And as you said, she becomes orphaned in her 30s. How does feeling alone affect her?

[Anica Fajardo]

She's an only child, so she has had this sense of being alone, and she hasn't known anybody like her. She's grown up with these two moms. One of them is her biological aunt. And she's grown up in a community that's primarily white, pretty homogeneous. And so even though she's only half.

A Colombian, she's felt a little bit out of place.

She's felt a little out of place.

Because she's got the two moms.

She's an only child. She spent a lot of time listening to adult conversations as her mother's, you know, hosted events and did family things. And so she's always felt a little bit alone, but always surrounded by people. And after her last of her family dies, she really kind of dives deep into being alone, and she isn't totally sure if she wants to not be alone anymore. And I think that's really common with people. You know, you kind of almost get used to that feeling of loneliness, and you don't really know how to break out of that.

[Alison Stewart]

In the book, you write two different timelines. One is Dory's story, and one is the story of her mom. How did you come to that decision?

[Anica Fajardo]

It was sort of a surprise. I was writing a story just in Dorie's voice, and then all of a.

Sudden one day, I started wondering a little bit more about her mother and father's story. And I wrote about 10 pages just out of the gate, not even thinking. It just kind of poured out of me, and those ended up being kind of lengthened and then scattered throughout the book. I had just been to Columbia before that and spent Christmas with my dad and his family. And I had actually gone to Cali.

Where the Columbian part takes place, and had.

And got to really feel and see Columbia again in a way that I hadn't really done when I'd been there in the past. And it just kind of came alive for me. And the idea of really telling this sort of more magical feeling. Place and time in this historical part of place and time in Cali in 1989.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, in 1989. How would you describe Dorie's mother?

[Anica Fajardo]

Dory's mother is Margaret or Maggie. Is filled with wanderlust since she's been a child. She's the youngest of two girls growing up in the Midwest. And all she wants to do is get away. She wants to travel, she wants to see things. And she doesn't really know what she's searching for until she falls in love with Juan Carlos and he brings her back to Colombia. And she is just ready and open for everything that happens to her and is really not just in love with.

Juan Carlos, but she's in love with.

Life and really, like, lives as big as she can, I think, and feels really very deeply and feels sort of this expansive love for the place of Colombia and him and her new life there.

[Alison Stewart]

On her deathbed, Dory's aunt says, you should go in search of your mom. You should go in search of your heritage. You should go to Colombia. Was this something Dory had thought before?

[Anica Fajardo]

She had not really thought about going to Columbia. She meets a character who turns into the love interest, and he makes a comment about the fact that, how can you be a cartographer and not have gone anywhere?

So she has a passport that she.

Applied for at some point, but she's.

Never actually used it.

She's fascinated about place, but she doesn't actually go anywhere. And I think her.

Her moms try really hard to give.

Her a sense of identity. And, you know, they talk about Columbia a lot. One of her moms learn Spanish and learns how to cook foods, albeit from Minnesota. And so she feels like she.

They've kind of paid lip service to.

Her background, and she hasn't really wanted to open that box.

[Interviewer/Host]

You mentioned earlier that Dori is a.

[Alison Stewart]

Cartographer, meaning she makes or produces maps. How much did you have to learn.

[Interviewer/Host]

About cartography to write her character?

[Anica Fajardo]

I had so much fun writing about a cartographer and writing about maps. I actually have a disclaimer in the back of the book that I am not a cartographer and I might have mistakes. I did rely on several books, a lot of websites. I had so much fun just learning about the history of map making. There's a lot of coincidence and a lot of really interesting kind of sociological background in map making. I also was a research librarian for a long time. And so it was fun to dive back into doing research and reading about.

All of these various.

Not just historical, but also some of the ways that maps are made today.

[Interviewer/Host]

In the book, Dori has this Greek like course that weighs in on her life. Like they aren't voices in her head. Would you describe them for us?

[Anica Fajardo]

Her voices are all female relatives from her mother's, her great aunt, her grandmas, from various sides. And they've all, as they die, they become part of her chorus. So each. So the first one joined when she was about 6 years old. Her grandmother dies and all of a sudden she starts hearing her grandmother's voice. And these are not voices, these are not wise ancestors that are guiding her in any way. They're more weighing in on her life. They have opin about everything that she does and everything they think she should be doing. And she doesn't really have any control over them. They kind of come and go as if she is a TV show that they're watching. And they kind of all hang out and check in and see how she's doing and then make comments about her.

[Interviewer/Host]

I'm asking you to read a little bit from the book. Would you set this up for us?

[Anica Fajardo]

Yeah.

This is the first section when we get a flashback to 1989. It's Cali, Colombia, which is a city in the northern part of Colombia in.

A valley where it's very warm. It's a very beautiful city.

And we get a first glimpse at Dori's biological mother, Margaret Moore. From the moment Margaret Moore stepped foot.

On Colombian soil, she felt an overwhelming sense of certainty, as if the planets had ordained it. She knew that she would stay, that this would become home. After a year of travel to Japan, to Thailand, to Italy, she hadn't expected to ever be cured of her wanderlust. But as she embarked at the Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport in Cali with that usual disoriented feeling of the international travel, the reason she loved travel, really, she felt a prickle of something different. The smells were airport smells. Exhaust and cologne and plastic. The noises were typical of air travel. Garbled announcements, weeping and either joy or despair, and the occasional sharp bark of a drug sniffing dog moving from plane to taxi, from train to hostel. She had been to so many intersections and all of them, no matter the city or country or even continent, were similar in their common foreignness. Until now, until Colombia. And no, she wanted to say aloud, it wasn't the man beside her. Or not only that, although yes, the fact that Juan Carlos had one hand in hers and the other pressed lightly at the small of her back gave her a frisson of excitement, an otherworldly thrill. The fact that they were in this together now, traveling halfway around the world to its home country, linked by the gold colored bands they had bought at a kiosk in the Piazza Navona, contributed, she knew, to the sense of familiarity. But there was something more. As she stood on the sidewalk outside the arrival's gate and watched Juan Carlos FL flag a taxi weighed down by suitcases and the ridiculous, antiquated Louis Vuitton makeup case her Aunt Maureen had insisted she bring on her travels, she realized what felt different. This place felt like home, although this wasn't her original home. Home had been a big ranch in Minneapolis where winters were bitterly cold and summers smotheringly hot. Her childhood had been a place filled with advice from well meaning relations and aunts and parents. With more than 10 years between her and her sister Jane, Margaret had always been told what to do, what not to do. Jane had indoctrinated her in 1980s Counterculture in individualism and autonomy, in the feminism that she had discovered in college, urging Margaret to choose freedom and independence. And she had. From the time she was 12 and spent her first week away at Girl Scout camp, Margaret couldn't wait to see the world beyond the Moore household. Even though she had hated the mosquitoes and the smoky campfire and the KP duty, she loved being in a new, unfamiliar place. From then on she sought opportunities for travel, other summer camps, a high school band trip to Canada, a week in Philadelphia with Aunt Dot. Being away from home allowed her to reinvent herself, to claim her identity, whatever it was at that moment. Now this Colombian version of Margaret was to live with Juan Carlos in the small Cali apartment he had described to her. The rest of my family lives in Bogota, he told Maggie that second night in Rome. But you'll come to Cali. It's too cold in Bogota. Not as cold as Minnesota, she had said, showing him a snapshot she kept in her diary. Mom, dad, and Janie on the snowy front steps of their Minneapolis Rambler. Looking at it, she could still feel her fingers go numb as she pressed the shutter on the new to her Nikon. We'll never be cold when we're together, he had said. At least she was pretty sure that's what he said, because at that moment he had embraced her and his voice was muffled by his strong arms cradling her.

On the flight from Rome, he had.

Told her there's a mango tree in the courtyard. Dizzy with exhaustion and jet lag and new love, she couldn't even imagine what a mango tree looked like. There had been the palms in Thailand and the pines in Italy. She thought of the sugar maple in her parents backyard, the one that, according to her older sister, had once held a swing. But by the time Maggie was born, though, the branch had long since fallen, as if she herself were a failed extension of the family tree.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Anica Fajado. Reading from her book, the Many Mothers of Dolores Moore, what did you want people to understand about Columbia?

[Anica Fajardo]

I really want to show it as a really beautiful place, a place that's really complex, that has this really fascinating history. I want to have it, this book, be an antidote to, you know, narcos or things like that. And although that's, you know, the drug wars and violence are a part of Columbia's history, that's not everything that it.

Is and that it's a beautiful place.

Filled with really beautiful people.

[Alison Stewart]

What waits for Dolores for Dory in Colombia? Without giving too much away, she really.

[Anica Fajardo]

Is forced to come out of her shell. Not just the fact that she is traveling in a foreign country and she's never been away from the United States before, but she's also immediately enveloped in.

This new group of friends. They're both people from the US and people from Colombia, people from all over.

And this is the first time that she's really found a group of people that are alive that are supporting her and really cheering for her.

[Interviewer/Host]

I noticed that you made the dedication of the book to your grandmother Sally, and you write for Sally and for all the madres, mothers, abuelas and grandmothers out there. First of all, can you describe Sally for us?

[Anica Fajardo]

Maybe, yeah.

My grandmother Sally was, you know, she was a. She had been in World War II. She was part of the waves. She was an energetic, extremely energetic person, loved trying new things, was really active. She ran marathons and did cross country skiing. She cooked and cleaned. And I think she would have had a different life if she had been born in a different time period where women didn't go straight to getting married and having children. She was really smart, read a huge amount. She read all my family read aloud to me when I was a kid. And she was one of the people that read aloud to me and was just really. She really embraced life.

[Interviewer/Host]

And you used two languages to thank all of the women in your life. Why?

[Anica Fajardo]

Well, I've got my Minnesota family, both my, you know, my maternal my maternal, my mother, my maternal family. I also have my in laws in the US and then I have my extended family in Colombia, including my father's wife who's become like a Colombian mother.

To me and additionally my other aunts in Colombia too, who have, you know.

Even though I haven't spent a huge amount of time with them like they.

Are, they're very dear to me.

[Interviewer/Host]

The name of the book is the Many Mothers of Dolores Moore. It is by Anica Farrado. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Anica Fajardo]

Thank you so much.

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