Sonora Reyes Talks Comfort Food and Creative Fuel | Takeout and Talk

Writer Soni Reyes - who you may also know as Sonora Reyes - has blown my mind. When I ask them about some of their favorite places to eat in their native Phoenix-Tempe, Arizona, area, they tell me about a restaurant called Fry Bread House. They tell me that the establishment specializing in the indigenous dish has a variation that resembles a taco, packed with beans, meat, and cheese aplenty. I immediately add it to my list of places to visit soon.

Reyes has chosen a different meal for our conversation today, though, opting for a meatball sandwich and chips from Firehouse Subs. Knowing that I was speaking to a published author, I chose my breakfast from Craftsman and Wolves in San Francisco - a literary name if I’ve ever heard one. My avocado toast is wildly decadent, boasting avocado, poached egg, pea hummus, roasted cauliflower, and cheese atop a toasted house sourdough. You know I can’t make that at home.

Speaking of home, I’m amazed to learn that Reyes is joining me from her childhood home in Tempe. Although they share memories of time spent with family in neighboring Mexico, it’s this house with the beautifully painted walls that provides them with inspiration - even if they forget to sit with that realization. 

“I think I take it for granted sometimes. All of the decorations, all of the stuff that we have around, I’ve been seeing it since I was a child. So I don’t really always notice how special it is,” Reyes says.  

But there are certain special corners of the house that plot out Reyes’s writing journey. Like that section of the living room with the recliner chair where they sat down with their laptop to devise the characters and plot of their debut book, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School. That novel came together because of a month-long writing challenge Reyes participated in during the early days of the pandemic. 

“I had ideas about original stuff I wanted to write, but it was all super big - like sci-fi, fantasy, big ideas that required a lot of research or world-building,” Reyes says. “So when I got the idea to write a novel in a month (three days before I had to actually start writing it), I was like ‘Oh, well I can’t actually do a lot of planning before this, so I have to write about something I know. Which is, I went to Catholic school, and, at the time, I thought I was a lesbian. So that was something I knew intimately.” 

And, as it turns out, they weren’t alone in sharing those feelings and experiences. Reyes admits that the Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School - which published in 2022 - has been their most well-received and popular book to date. It spawned a new world of beloved characters that have received separate tomes of their own, including Reyes’s most-recent book, The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar. That novel features fan-favorite Cesar Flores as he figures out how to navigate life with mental health challenges. Reyes says it’s been a specific goal of theirs to write something that tackles psychological issues. 

“I was like, ‘You know what, if I do write a mental health book, and I talk about a really stigmatized illness like bipolar, I want it to be someone people already love.’ Because I feel like whatever preconceived notions they have, they have to look at it through this lens of, ‘Well I already love this person.’ And so they have to kind of grapple with their prejudice or whatever it is,” Reyes says. 

The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar was the second book Reyes released last year, following The Broposal, which follows two teen friends trying to figure out their true feelings for each other. As evidenced by their titles, both of these books center the experience of male-identified leads. But that’s going to change with Reyes’s upcoming book, which is slated for a 2026 release. Reyes says these choices mirror their own identity discoveries. 

“I’ve been figuring myself out since I was a kid, and I keep changing my mind about what I am,” Reyes says. “I thought I was a lesbian, I thought I was straight, I was bisexual, I was queer, I was a woman, I was non-binary, I was a man, I was gender-queer - all of the things. I’ve been all the things. And it’s okay if it keeps changing. I’m totally okay with…not having to have a definite answer that never changes.” 

It’s because of this ever-changing transition that Reyes says their next protagonist will be transgender. But that’s the most information they can share with us today!

Aside from writing, Reyes is also keeping busy with a new podcast called Bidi Bidi Book Pod, which they’ll co-host alongside fellow queer Latinx writer Jonny Garza Villa. They’re also actively helping other writers pursue their own literary paths. In fact, they offered the following: 

“Ignore any advice that feels like it doesn’t work for you, and try to figure out a way to reframe it for what works for you.” The other? “Find your people. It’s important to remember that none of us are in this alone. We are all trying our best.”

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