We Make Each Other Beautiful: Art, Activism, and the Law
Cornell University Press, June 2024

A History of Hazardous Objects
University Of Nevada Press, September 2024

Loyola Law School Professor Yxta Maya Murray published two books over the course of a three-month window in 2024, one non-fiction and one novel. In We Make Each Other Beautiful: Art, Activism, and the Law, Murray focuses on women and queer artists and artist collectives who engage in direct political action as a part of their art practice: “Defined by public protest, rule-breaking, rebellion, and resistance to governmental and institutional abuse, direct-action ‘artivism’ draws on the aims, radical spirit, and tactics of the civil rights and feminist movements and on the struggles for disability rights, queer rights, and immigrant rights to seek legal and social change.”

In A History of Hazardous Objects, Murray tells the story of Laura de León, a radar astronomer who studies asteroids and comets at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, in 2020, when several crises are coalescing. “A story about family, love, risk, and science, A History of Hazardous Objects contemplates how experiencing trauma and pain may help us secure a safer and more just world.”

Praise for We Make Each Other Beautiful: “A cutting-edge book at the intersection of art, activism, and the law. Yxta Maya Murray—a gifted storyteller, engaging writer, and influential legal scholar—is the ideal author.” —Kevin R. Johnson, co-author of Immigration Law and the U.S.-Mexico Border

Praise for A History of Hazardous Objects: “Murray’s precise eye for quotidian detail coupled with her ability to humanize global turmoil make this novel both deeply personal and profoundly universal. Murray is a captivating storyteller at the top of her game.” —Daniel A. Olivas, Latino Book Review