Award-winning authors Ana Men?ndez and Luis Alberto Urrea read their writings at the Folger Shakespeare Library last Friday as part of a series of book readings presented by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
The readings were in conjunction with National Hispanic Heritage Month. Men?ndez is Cuban, a daughter of Cuban exiles, and Urrea is a native of Tijuana, Mexico.
Men?ndez read a new short story titled "Traveling Fools." Her writing reflected on several quirky family members in Santiago, Cuba. Urrea told the true story of his mystical great aunt Teresita from his novel "The Hummingbird's Daughter."
One of the characters in "Traveling Fools" was an imaginative postal man with an obsession for the weather. The postal man mysteriously vanishes from the city when he decides to float away one day in a chair elevated by balloons, carrying him into the depths of the skies.
"I don't think a work of art or a piece of literature is ever complete, but I want my readers to get whatever they need to get from my writing, even if it's laughter. I believe it's up to the reader to determine what it means for them," Men?ndez said.
Urrea's reading explained how Teresita possessed supernatural powers and how she would tell humorous yet spiritual horror tales about the divine.
Urrea spent 20 years researching for "The Hummingbird's Daughter." Researching the supernatural nature of Teresita taught him daily sacredness and helped him understand his personal holiness, Urrea said.
"I wear an earring now. When I was in Arizona and taken in by shamans, they told me to pierce my ear to show God I wasn't deaf, to show that I was old enough to do it," he said.
Urrea also wrote "The Devil's Highway," a story about 12 immigrants who successfully crossed the U.S. border in 2001. The book was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.
Men?ndez also wrote "In Cuba I was a German Shepherd," a 2001 New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The novel is a collection of 11 short stories about Cuban immigrants living in Miami. Her other novel, "Loving Che," is a national best-seller about a Cuban woman in Miami who investigates the life of her vanished mother.
Men?ndez is currently a news columnist for the Miami Herald and has covered several stories on Cuba.
Now, Urrea teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
"One thing I tell my students the most is to be honest in their writing, even if it's fiction. If they are honest, they can create a spiritual understanding of what they are writing, a close connection to their work," he said.
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation organizes a variety of literary programs, especially for young people who want to nurture their literary interests. Their Reading Series program brings together noteworthy authors to share their work through public readings.
For a list of upcoming book readings and more information about PEN/Faulkner, visit www.penfaulkner.org.
