18 Comments

I have two poems at the Anacua Literary Arts Journal: "En la voz de mi padre" and "Los volcánes de Nicaragua." These are both from my latest manuscript, Variations in Blue.

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Wonderful! Do you have a link you can share? Would love to read ...

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Thanks!

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I loved how you inhabited your father's voice and insinuated yourself toward the end. The conversion of grief, ultimately, to rain. Beautiful. Also how you associate los volcanes with place, and politics, and loss, oscillating between meditation and interrogation. Brava!

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Working on...nothing. It's that ill-defined (and confusing) interregnum after you finish one book and aren't ready yet to start another.

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Been there!

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I'm working on a novel that involves a kidnapping. Oh, and some crazy Christians.

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LOL. Talk about a page turner!

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Hi Cristina,

To answer your question, I’m currently working on a book inspired by my grandmother’s life and the secrets she held. She was an indigenous woman from Oaxaca who kept very much to herself. I started this book 5 years ago wanting to forgive and understand her, but life had other plans for me and I had to take a detour, but I’m back now with a new perspective. Thank you for opening up this platform :)

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Thanks, Esperanza! I'm so pleased to read about your project. Yes, secrets are where so much family energy is buried.

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PS: You've given me an idea for another prompt, too.

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I’m starting the second draft of a novel loosely based on a very small Cuban community in Florida in which I was raised. I have to take a deep breath and cut, cut, cut!

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Sounds very interesting! What's the community?

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Naples, Florida. When we arrived in the mid-sixties, there were about 20 families. Most of us came via Camarioca. By the 70s, there were maybe 200 families — and one bodega. It’s a very different town now.

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That's fascinating. I had no idea! This is your literary terrain now ...

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Working on a novel set in 1900 Nicaragua where La virgen, Tonantzin, and Chantico mess with Gigi Martinez. There's a parrot, beaches, mangos, and a good man gone bad.

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Haha! VERY intriguing! Especially the 'good man gone bad' (much more interesting than the other way around)!

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