Escritora | Educadora | Border-smasher
Author, Rebeldita the Fearless in Ogreland | Rebeldita la Alegre en el País de los Ogros
Dr. Siu in the news
The Author

Oriel María Siu (1981) is from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Daughter to a strong & mighty Pipil-Salvadoran-Guatemalan mother, and a dedicated Chinese Nicaraguan father, Oriel had to leave her homeland for Los Angeles, California, in 1997.
She has since dedicated herself to the creation of cultural and academic spaces for the growing U.S. Central American and Latino communities, helping to establish the first Central American Studies Program at California State University, Northridge in 1999, and founding the Latina/o Studies program at the University of Puget Sound in 2012. Throughout her journey as an educator, Dr. Siu has remained a strong proponent of Ethnic Studies, contributing her research, writing and teaching to sustaining and expanding this vital academic field.
Dr. Siu holds a Masters in Latin American Literatures from UC Berkeley, and a Doctoral Degree in Cultural Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has taught courses on race, immigration, Central American, Chicana/o and Latinx literatures, while publishing multiple articles, chapters, and academic works on these topics in numerous national and international journals and books. Among the universities where she has taught are UCLA, the University of Puget Sound, Chapman University, and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles.
After becoming a mother in 2013, Dr. Siu encountered the problem all socially-conscious parents face: the lack of inspiring, empowering, historically on-point, and culturally sensitive books for children of color in the U.S. So she decided to write her own. She is now writing the children’s book series, Rebeldita the Fearless / Rebeldita la Alegre, published by Izote Press. In this series, Dr. Siu centralizes the power of children vis-a-vis destructive ogre-forces living in society.
Dr. Siu is also a dancer, with Kizomba and Dominican bachata being two of her dance loves. She lives and writes out of Los Angeles, California, and San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with her daughter Suletu Ixakbal.
In 2020, Dr. Siu was selected "Top Ten New Latino Latinx Authors" by Latino Stories for her contributions to children's literature in the United States.
La Autora
Oriel María Siu nació en San Pedro Sula, Honduras (1981). Es orgullosamente pipil/china/centroamericana de madre pipil salvadoreña/guatemalteca y de padre chino/nicaragüense. En 1997 se vio en la necesidad de salir de su país, y emigró a Los Ángeles, California, donde en 1999, ayudó a fundar el primer programa de estudios centroamericanos en Estados Unidos en la Universidad Estatal de California, Northridge.
En el 2005 concluyó una maestría en literaturas latinoamericanas de la Universidad de California, Berkeley, y en el 2012 obtuvo su doctorado en Letras de la Universidad de California, Los Ángeles. Ha impartido numerosos cursos de literatura, inmigración y estudios étnicos en diferentes universidades estadounidenses, incluyendo la Universidad de Puget Sound en el estado de Washington, donde fundó el programa de Latino Studies, y en Loyola Marymount University, en Los Ángeles, sin dejar de lado su amor por la creación literaria. Vive y escribe en Los Ángeles, California, y San Pedro Sula, Honduras, acompañada de su hija Suletu Ixakbal. Su meta es seguir en la creación de libros que inspiren a su hija y a todos los niños del mundo a crear y luchar por la vida, la justicia, y nuestra MamaTierra.
En el 2020, la Dra. Siu fue seleccionada una de las/los 10 mejores escritoras y escritores de descendencia Latinoamericana en EEUU por Latino Stories.
ACADEMICS
Education
PhD - University of California Los Angeles, 2012
MA - University of California Berkeley, 2007
BAs - California State University Northridge, Magna Cum Laude, 2004
Hispanic Languages and Literatures BA
Chicana/Chicano Studies BA
Scholarly Publications
Siu, Oriel María. “The Presence of Coloniality in U.S. Central American-American Literatures.”Oxford Encyclopedia. Special Edition on U.S. Latina/o Literatures. Spring 2018
Siu, Oriel María (collaborator) “We Should Help Stabilize Central America and End the War on Drugs” Rodolofo F. Acuña, ed. Latino Issues (2016). Greenwood Press, 2016.
Siu, Oriel María (Chapter). Edited by Denise M. Sandoval, Anthony J. Ratcliff, Tracy Lachica Buenavista, James R. Marín. “On Building Latino Studies at the White Neoliberal Liberal Arts University: An Auto-Ethnography”. White Washing American Education: The New Culture Wars in Ethnic Studies. ABC-CLIO; Denver, October 2016.
Siu, Oriel María. “Prólogo” de Inmortales, novela de Oscar René Benítez. Segunda Edición, 2016.
Siu, Oriel María. “On the Colonial Legacy of U.S. Universities and the Transcendence of Your Resistance”. Mujeres Talk. Ohio State University Libraries. October 2015.
Siu, Oriel María. “Desobediencia de la razón: El cuerpo y sus placeres en una exquisita novela de Arturo Arias, Sopa de Caracol”. Revista de Filología y Lingüística. Universidad de Costa Rica (Otoño 2015)
Siu, Oriel María. “On Sparking the Latino Political Imagination: A Conversation with Presente.org Co-Founder and Writer, Roberto Lovato”. Gabriel Gutiérrez, ed. Latinos and Latinas: Risks and Opportunities. Greenwood 2014.
Siu, Oriel María. “Central American Enunciations from US Zones of Indifference, or the Sentences of Coloniality”. Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature: Special Issue. Arturo Arias (Ed). Publication date: 2013.
Siu, Oriel María. “Suicidio y colonialidad en una novela de la diáspora centroamericana: Inmortales”. Mester Journal. Issue No. 40, 2011.
Siu, Oriel María. “Interview with Héctor Tobar: On The Tattooed Soldier, the Times, Memory and Marginalities” Mester Journal. Issue No. 40, 2011.
Saavedra, José Luis y Arturo Escobar (Compiladores). Santiago Castro-Gómez, Ramón Grosfoguel, Agustín Lao-Montes, José A. Lucero, Nelson M. Torres, Carlos Mamani Condori, Walter Mignolo, Fanon Reinaga, Oriel María Siu, Catherine Walsh. “Es tiempo de descolonizar nuestra academia”. Educación superior, interculturalidad y descolonización. La Paz, Bolivia: CEUB-PIEB, 2007.
Meyer, Bethany; Siu, Oriel María; Venegas, Gabriela. “La visión femenina ante el amor, la naturaleza y la historia: Una charla con Gioconda Belli”. Mester. Vol. XXXVII. Los Ángeles, 2008.
Siu, Oriel María. “Reflexiones de una centroamericana sobre el encuentro intergaláctico entre los pueblos zapatistas y el mundo”. La voz. Berkeley,
February 2007.
Orona-Cordova, Roberta ed. “Are You Mexican?” by Oriel María Siu, contributor. Chicano/a Studies Reader: A Bridge to Writing. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co, 2003.
Public Talks
University Courses Taught
ACADEMICS
Education
PhD - University of California Los Angeles, 2012
MA - University of California Berkeley, 2007
BAs - CSU Northridge, Magna Cum Laude, 2004
Hispanic Languages and Literatures BA
Chicana/Chicano Studies BA
Central Amrican Studies
Scholarly Publications
S
Siu, Oriel María. " White by Design: The United States' Long Enduring History of Family Separation" Last Real Indians, November 2020.
Siu, Oriel María. “The Presence of Coloniality in U.S. Central American-American Literatures.” Oxford Encyclopedia. Special Edition on U.S. Latina/o Literatures. Spring 2018
Siu, Oriel María (collaborator) “We Should Help Stabilize Central America and End the War on Drugs” Rodolofo F. Acuña, ed. Latino Issues (2016). Greenwood Press, 2016.
Siu, Oriel María (Chapter). Edited by Denise M. Sandoval, Anthony J. Ratcliff, Tracy Lachica Buenavista, James R. Marín. “On Building Latino Studies at the White Neoliberal Liberal Arts University: An Auto-Ethnography”. White Washing American Education: The New Culture Wars in Ethnic Studies. ABC-CLIO; Denver, October 2016.
Siu, Oriel María. “Prólogo” de Inmortales, novela de Oscar René Benítez. Segunda Edición, 2016.
Siu, Oriel María. “On the Colonial Legacy of U.S. Universities and the Transcendence of Your Resistance”. Mujeres Talk. Ohio State University Libraries. October 2015.
Siu, Oriel María. “Desobediencia de la razón: El cuerpo y sus placeres en una exquisita novela de Arturo Arias, Sopa de Caracol”. Revista de Filología y Lingüística. Universidad de Costa Rica (Otoño 2015)
Siu, Oriel María. “On Sparking the Latino Political Imagination: A Conversation with Presente.org Co-Founder and Writer, Roberto Lovato”. Gabriel Gutiérrez, ed. Latinos and Latinas: Risks and Opportunities. Greenwood 2014.
Siu, Oriel María. “Central American Enunciations from US Zones of Indifference, or the Sentences of Coloniality”. Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature: Special Issue. Arturo Arias (Ed). Publication date: 2013.
Siu, Oriel María. “Suicidio y colonialidad en una novela de la diáspora centroamericana: Inmortales”. Mester Journal. Issue No. 40, 2011.
Siu, Oriel María. “Interview with Héctor Tobar: On The Tattooed Soldier, the Times, Memory and Marginalities” Mester Journal. Issue No. 40, 2011.
Saavedra, José Luis y Arturo Escobar (Compiladores). Santiago Castro-Gómez, Ramón Grosfoguel, Agustín Lao-Montes, José A. Lucero, Nelson M. Torres, Carlos Mamani Condori, Walter Mignolo, Fanon Reinaga, Oriel María Siu, Catherine Walsh. “Es tiempo de descolonizar nuestra academia”. Educación superior, interculturalidad y descolonización. La Paz, Bolivia: CEUB-PIEB, 2007.
Meyer, Bethany; Siu, Oriel María; Venegas, Gabriela. “La visión femenina ante el amor, la naturaleza y la historia: Una charla con Gioconda Belli”. Mester. Vol. XXXVII. Los Ángeles, 2008.
Siu, Oriel María. “Reflexiones de una centroamericana sobre el encuentro intergaláctico entre los pueblos zapatistas y el mundo”. La voz. Berkeley, February 2007.
Orona-Cordova, Roberta ed. “Are You Mexican?” by Oriel María Siu, contributor. Chicano/a Studies Reader: A Bridge to Writing. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co, 2003.