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NEIGHBORS
SANTAN SUN NEWS | JAN 20 – FEB 2, 2018
Chandler author to shine light on immigrant experience BY COLLEEN SPARKS Staff
Maria Isabel Alvarez was born in Guatemala and many of her relatives still live there, but time and distance keep her from truly connecting to the country close to her heart. That’s why the 29-year-old Chandler writer, who works at Arizona State University, is so excited. She has received one of the Artist Research and Development Grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Alvarez, who has a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from ASU, will use grant money to travel to Guatemala to research topics and immerse herself in the culture in order to write a book. “I feel that I have not been able to have a direct connection with my home country,” Alvarez said. “This is my way of reconnecting with a place and time I’ve been close to. “I’m really hoping it will illuminate on a subject matter that isn’t often talked about. I want to call more attention to the indigenous people of Guatemala. I want it to allow readers to gain empathy and compassion for immigrants.” She moved to the United States with her parents when she was a year old, first to Massachusetts, then to California before moving to Arizona when she was 4. Alvarez graduated from Dobson High School in 2007 and earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature with a certificate in writing from ASU in 2011, then received
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Yellowing of Birds” – which she has been working on for almost two years – as a “magical realist, feminist novel.” It focuses on a woman who can “experience memories and dreams and darkest thoughts of other people.” Alvarez said the fictional book will show the woman’s experience as an immigrant and how she loses her “ability to connect with memories of other people” once she moves to Arizona. She said the first part of her book currently focuses on a refugee camp on the MexicoGuatemala border but that could change, depending on how her research goes. “It’s a book that captures the fragmentation of the immigrant experience,” she said. “I wanted to capture the before of migration and juxtapose that into the after. “Especially during these very difficult political times, I feel like these stories really need to Photos by Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer be told. I hope in some it helps to illuminate readers to a very Writer Maria Isabel Alvarez has had her work published complex topic. At the core, in many literary magazines and journals, including “Black immigrants are humans that are Warrior Review,” “Sonora Review,” “Arts & Letters,” “Puerto looking for opportunities for their del Sol” and “Columbia Journal.” families.” her master’s degree in creative writing from Alvarez, whose parents and ASU last May. two younger brothers also live in the She described the book, “The Quiet Valley, said she grew up hearing stories her
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family members knew about other people experiencing trauma in Guatemala. “I grew up surrounded by woven textiles, such as handbags, serviettes, and wall hangings, purchased from indigenous women artisans,” she said. “My mother used these textiles as tangible reminders of the country from where we emigrated. “My father loves to videotape and photograph family events, and I grew up flipping through family photo albums of my parents when they were teenagers living in Villa Nueva, Guatemala. To this day, my father loves listening to marimba, a style of music popular in Guatemala, which uses a type of percussion instrument made of wood and played with mallets, much like a xylophone.” Alvarez said she believes immigrants often “come from tragedy, brokenness” and she wants to reveal in her book “what an immigrant experiences before she decides to emigrate.” The last time Alvarez visited Guatemala was when she was 15 years old, though her father’s side of the family still lives there. She was born in Guatemala City, which she described as “a very modern city” that is “thriving,” but now has relatives all over the United States. Alvarez plans to spend about two weeks in Guatemala, and she will visit a town called Antigua, where she said she will “engage with the community” by going to cultural events related to Semana Santa, See
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