Mexican novelist Yuri Herrera discusses his book "Signs Preceding the End of the World" and answers questions for the Common Read program. Jessica Anny/The Lion's Roar

The common read for English 101 featured the Mexican novelist Yuri Herrera. His book "Signs Preceding the End of the World" is the first common read book to be a translation book. Herrera visited campus to speak about his book and answer questions on Monday, Oct. 23.

Herrera discussed how he chose the book tite.

“The title of the book has its name because the main character of the book has to leave home and to most people that can seem scary because it may seem like the end of the world but not really,” said Herrera. “What I wanted to do was write the book where it challenged the main character and humans to abandon something that they known, it’s like sort of the end of the world for them.”

Herrera pointed out that this story is mainly a transformation for someone and a story about being a strong woman. Makina crosses the border alone, and that takes a lot of strength according to Herrera.

“This is a story about a woman who takes a transformational voyage,” said Herrera. “The character is going to face really hard obstacles and really nasty people. When I was writing this book, I pictured the strongest, wisest human being I could picture. We live in a world that has rules that are tougher for women. When women travel by themselves, it’s really tough. The main character in this book is really strong because that is the strongest kind of person, a woman who has to travel alone, not knowing what kind of people she might run into when she crosses the border.”

Herrera discussed the process he goes through when he writes a book.

“I work for a long time before actually sitting down and writing a book,” said Herrera. “I make a lot of rules until I eventually have this route found. It is very detailed. I know what words I’m going to use but don’t know how yet, but this route will show you that the story can teach how it’s going to go and be played out. I think it is really important to have a route or plan when you are writing a book.”

Freshman criminal justice major Casey Caccamo attended the Q&A session.

“What I enjoyed most was that I got to ask him questions about the book, and it was really helpful because he wrote the book,” said Caccamo. “So who better to ask than him? I also really liked how detailed he was when he answered the questions because it gave a lot of insight in to what he was thinking when he was writing the book.”

Caccamo hopes that she will understand and have a more personal connection with the book when reading it since having her questions answered by the author.