Marie Arana: “Cada libro que publico es un ladrillo en mi monumento a la comunidad latina” | Cultura | EL PAÍS English

Latinoland es una ambiciosa narración sobre la historia de los latinos que desmantela estereotipos arraigados y presenta una narrativa de empoderamiento. A lo largo de sus más de 600 páginas, expone el potencial de éxito de la comunidad latina, ayuda a resolver crisis de identidad y transforma la manera en que los latinos son percibidos y tratados por la sociedad.

This is 75-year-old Peruvian author Marie Arana’s sixth book. She is also an editor at The Washington Post and the inaugural literary director of the Library of Congress. Her work has been widely acclaimed by critics and the public, and she has accumulated awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2014), while being shortlisted for the National Book Award and the John Sargent Prize (2001). Having emigrated with her family to New York when she was only nine years old with her Peruvian father and American mother, Arana’s work is just one example of the brilliant contributions of America’s migrant population, which struggles with the rootlessness that comes with a dual identity.

Answer. When I was 38 and working at The Washington Post, I was asked for the first time about my homeland and I realized that I had completely forgotten the little girl I had left behind in Peru. That encouraged me to write my memoir, American Chica. Then I realized that I needed to explain who we Latinos were, to tell our story, and I published two novels. From there I moved on to a biography of Bolívar. And finally I wrote the Silver, Sword and Stone stories. I mean, I went from telling my personal history to narrating the collective history.