On the Wings of a Hummingbird is honored with a finalist award by Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The article links the themes in the novel to the work being done by a Vermont non-profit in resettling asylum seekers.

‘On the Wings of a Hummingbird’ by Susan Mills is a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Award

By Annie Landenberger/The Commons

NEWFANE—Author Susan Mills was recently named a finalist for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA) in the First Novel (Over 90K Words) category for On the Wings of a Hummingbird.

Author Honored in 2023 Indie Book Awards

On the Wings of a Hummingbird by Susan Mills has been named by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group as one of the best indie books of 2023. Finalist award in the category of First Books 90,000+ words.

Read more here.

With On the Wings of a Hummingbird we have a beautifully written story about a young girl trying to escape gang violence and poverty to have a better chance in the world…. Overall, On the Wings of a Hummingbird is a story of growth and forgiveness. One of hope but also of sacrifice. Nothing comes easy in this world and every individual has a past that you don’t know about.

Click here to hear full podcast. A border can be “a story of identity” or “a wound…in the landscape.” It is sometimes a place to be feared, and other times a place to be honored. Borders can, of course, be metaphors: the boundary between boy and man, or girl and woman; the thin line between sanity and madness; the final frontier between life and death. In any case, a border, as the journalist James Crawford writes, “is never simply a line, a marker, a wall, an edge. First, it is an idea.” I’m joined in conversation with Susan Mills, an immigration attorney whose law practice for over two decades focussed on preparing asylum cases for thousands of immigrants from Central America, with a particular focus on unaccompanied teenagers. We go from borders to dreams and back again: “Wherever there are borders,” James Crawford says, “that’s where you are going to find the most concentrated injustice.”

Rachel Branch, community TV host and community activist in North Adams, MA, interviewed me on her show, Solutions Rising. Rachel and I share years of community activism. We talk at length about immigration issues and their relationship to my novel. Click below to view the video. Or at YouTube.

On the Wings of a Hummingbird is many heartfelt stories in one.

It is a U.S. immigration story, succinctly capturing the complexities and inherent pitfalls of the immigration system.

It is a Central American emigration story, a vivid introduction to the hopelessness in present-day Guatemala—due in large part to gang violence and oppression—that drives desperate people to the American border. Impossible choices force the characters into actions they previously deemed unthinkable.

It is a love letter to Guatemala

Author’s Hour interview with New England-based Wayne Barber, discussing my novel as well as current topics around immigration. On Spotify, or click below to hear the podcast.

Diane Josefowicz (Ready, Set, Oh), Barbara Morrison (Innocent: Memoir of a Welfare Mother) and I sat down at Books on the Square in Providence for book readings, discussion, and Q&A. See it live on Instagram:

A conversation with Susan Mills, author of On The Wings Of A Hummingbird, a novel about a girl named Petra growing up in a small Guatemalan village who eventually travels to the U.S. fleeing gang violence.

by Pearl Marvell

“On the Wings of a Hummingbird,” recently published by Apprentice House of Loyola University, is about a 15-year-old girl name Petra, fleeing gang violence in Guatemala. Petra, betrayed by her childhood friend and abandoned by her mother who fled to the United States, fears for her own life and decides to flee to the U.S., on her own, and reunite with her mother. The story of Petra explores healing and forgiveness as well as love and community overcoming great obstacles. See full article below.

“Immigration: Nothing is as it seems.” Mosaic is The Public Radio’s podcast on immigration. “People are always so complicated. Clients appeared in my immigration law office, and I might think I knew something about them. A Liberian man convicted of domestic abuse, a born-again Christian who served as a sergeant in the guerrilla war in Guatemala, a gay man from a small village in El Salvador. "Never assume anything," was a professional requirement. If my mind wasn’t open to begin with, my clients pried it open day after day.” For more: https://explore.thepublicsradio.org/stories/immigration-nothing-is-as-it-seems/

“I just read “On the Wings of a Hummingbird” by my neighbor Susan Mills. This newly published novel tells the story of Petra, a 15-year old Guatemalan girl, raised with great spiritual strength that is tested by poverty and gang violence so great that she risks abduction, rape and murder just walking to school.” Click below for full article.

“[On the Wings of a Hummingbird] is a story of betrayal, gang violence, forgiveness and fleeing to America. Susan Mills, 61, will present her first novel… at [Cranston] Central Library at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 and William Hall Library at 7 p.m. on Sept. 21.

“The book follows 15-year-old Petra whose life has been upended by local gang violence in her small Guatemalan village.”

See full article and announcement of upcoming events below.

Vermont writer Susan Mills has a new novel out from Apprentice House Press entitled On the Wings of a Hummingbird.

Nancy Braus, of Everyone’s Books in Brattleboro, recommends On the Wings of a Hummingbird to listeners of Vermont Public Radio, particularly for summer reading lists. Listen at the VPR website.

I just read On the Wings of a Hummingbird by my neighbor Susan Mills. This newly published novel tells the story of Petra, a fifteen-year old Guatemalan, raised with great spiritual strength that is tested by poverty and gang violence so great that she risks abduction, rape and murder just walking to school. After her childhood friend, now a gang member, kidnaps her, she escapes, and sees no choice for survival but to hop trains and walk more than 1,600 miles to the US border.

Author interview with Deborah Kalb

On the Wings of a Hummingbird, by Susan Mills, explores forgiveness and redemption, how to heal oneself and find a future of integrity with friends and community who have participated in atrocities.

‘We are talking about human beings’

People seeking asylum in the United States want to protect their families, make a better future, and meet their basic needs for food and security — like all of us