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Ancestry & Inheritance: Writing a First Novel Inspired by Our Own Story + Alum After Party!
Friday, February 23
6-7:15 PM ET
virtual event with in-person alumni gathering;
open to the public, including all mentees, mentors & alum
Join us for a Friday Night Salon that celebrates the importance of telling your story in your own voice. María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer from Colombia’s Caribbean coast who emigrated to the States six years ago. The Waves Take You Home, her first novel, is a tribute to her ancestors, magical realism, ghosts, and the resilience of the women in her community.
Join María as she discusses the hurdles and challenges of writing her first novel, writing the novel she wanted to read, fighting impostor syndrome when writing in a second language, fear as a tool for creating, and the importance of creating a community as she began her journey.
We’ll experiment with magical realism prompts and interview our ancestors to inform our stories. Don’t miss this event and a chance to win a free copy of The Waves Take You Home!
Registration will be capped to allow for intimate discussion. Save your spot now!
Girls Write Now alumni are invited to join us in person for this Salon to network, catch up, and return to their Girls Write Now roots.
Meet the Guest Author
María Alejandra Barrios Vélez
María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Manchester and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and scruffy dog, Gus. She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow, and her stories have been published in Shenandoah Literary, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, El Malpensante, Fractured Lit, SmokeLong Quarterly, The Offing, and more. Her work has been supported by organizations such as Vermont Studio Center, Kweli, Caldera Arts, and the New Orleans Writers’ Residency. The Waves Take You Home is María’s debut, inspired by the resilience and strength of the women in her family and the Caribbean city she spent most of her life in.
03. 19. 2024
Learn more about The Waves Take You Home…
In this heartfelt story about how the places we run from hold the answers to our deepest challenges, the death of her grandmother brings a young woman home, where she must face the past in order to become the heir of not just the family restaurant, but her own destiny.
Violeta Sanoguera had always done what she was told. She left the man she loved in Colombia in pursuit of a better life for herself and because her mother and grandmother didn’t approve of him. Chasing dreams of education and art in New York City, and with a new love, twenty-eight-year-old Violeta establishes a new life for herself, on her terms. But when her grandmother suddenly dies, everything changes.
After years of being on her own in NYC, Violeta finds herself on a plane back to Colombia, accompanied at all times by the ghost of her grandmother who is sending her messages and signs, to find she is the heir of the failing family restaurant, the very one Abuela told her to run from in the first place. The journey leads her to rediscover her home, her grandmother, and even the flame of an old love.
This event is open to:
all mentees, all mentors, program alum and the public
