Irene Vilar
Irene Vilar was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, in 1969. Her memoir, The Ladies’ Gallery (trans. by Gregory Rabassa, Pantheon 1996, Other Press 2009) was a Philadelphia Inquirer and Detroit Free Press notable book of the year and was short-listed for the 1999 Mind Book of the Year Award. She was acquisitions editor at Syracuse University Press from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005 she served as founder and series editor of the Americas series published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Currently she edits the Americas series at Texas Tech University Press. Vilar is literary agent for Vilar Creative Agency, and co-agent in the US for Ray-Gude Mertin Literary Agency, an agency specializing in Spanish, Latin American, and Portuguese authors representing such notable writers as Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago. Her new memoir, "Impossible Motherhood" (foreword by Robin Morgan), is forthcoming from Other Press in 2009.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Impossible Motherhood:Testimony of an Abortion Addict" (Sept.09' Other Press)
"The Ladies' Gallery: A memoir of family secrets" (1998, Pantheon hardcover edition titled "A Message from God in the Atomic Age")
"Sea Journal" (1997, Scholastic)
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Author
- "Irene Vilar is a writer of extraordinary passion, erudition, and intelligence"---Tobias Wolff
- "Stunning. A Lyrical and visionary memoir of depression, Puerto Rican identity, and young womanhood"--- Kirkus Review on "The Ladies' Gallery (starred)
- "This is another dark perfect gem from Irene Vilar…a journey into a harrowing underworld but guided by Vilar's gifts and her light we emerge in the end transformed, enlightened and oh so alive."---Junot Diaz (on new memoir "Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict", foreword by Robin Morgan, forthcoming from Other Press 09')
- "I have never read a book like IMPOSSIBLE MOTHERHOOD, Irene Vilar's disturbing, heart-wrenching and ultimately triumphant memoir, for the simple and understandable reason that no one of her gender has ever
summoned the brutally raw, transcendent courage to write such a book--and yes, confess to such a troubling story…shall only deepen the controversy that has so dangerously divided our nation, thrown gasoline on the flames of our culture wars, and continues to breed volumes of hypocrisy into American politics. And yet I can think of no better word to describe the impact of IMPOSSIBLE MOTHERHOOD than a blessing, the blessing of a profound and eloquent intelligence forcing itself to mend a shattered self, reminding us that the battle over abortion floats atop the suffering, transgressions and aching indelible pain of real people, struggling individuals who embody both futility and hope, moral confusion and moral clarity, misshapen love and spiritual metamorphosis.”---Bob Shacochis
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