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Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mirta Ojito joins Latino Legacy on Avanza 88.3 to discuss her debut novel, Deeper Than the Ocean, a historical fiction inspired by the 1919 Valbanera shipwreck that claimed the lives of nearly 500 Spanish migrants bound for the Americas.
Ojito describes the tragedy as “the Titanic that no one had heard about, a poor man’s Titanic,” noting that the ship vanished in the Florida Straits and that “their bodies were never recovered.” The novel unfolds through a dual narrative: one following a young woman aboard the doomed ship and another centered on a modern descendant uncovering a family history long buried by silence.
Ojito says the story first came to her in a moment she still describes as uncanny. “I had what I can only describe as a vision… a woman in a light dress, barefoot, running through the hallways of a ship, desperately looking for her infant daughter.” That image became the emotional anchor of the book. Ojito first learned about the Valbanera about twenty years ago when she stumbled upon a book about the shipwreck and bought it for ten dollars.
Migration, Ojito explains, is one of the key themes in the book. “I have always been fascinated not just by migration, but by integration, what happens after people arrive.” That interest is deeply personal. Ojito left Cuba at 16, and much of her journalism and now her fiction, grapples with how displacement reshapes identity across generations.
In the novel, the protagonist uncovers family truths Ojito herself learned too late. “I didn’t even know who my great-grandparents were until after my parents had died,” she says, calling the book “the story I should have gone looking for myself.”
Host Edgar Zúñiga reflects on the book’s emotional reach and the power of Ojito’s writing: “There are so many universal themes here: migration, family, identity, and for many Latino families, uncovering the truth can be a form of healing.”
Ojito also urges listeners to preserve their own histories. “Ask questions. Record your elders. Leave something behind, even if it’s just for your family.”For her, Deeper Than the Ocean is not only a novel, but an act of remembrance, one that honors lives lost at sea and the stories that continue long after.
A Spanish-language version of her novel will be available in the summer of 2026. To learn more, visit www.mirtaojitoauthor.com.
