Ancestry & Inheritance: Writing a First Novel Inspired by Our Own Story + Alum After Party!

About the Event

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.

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.

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