Puerto Rican Book Panel

828 Broadway,New York NY 10003

18 January, 2023

Description

This event is presented by the Strand and sponsored by the Loisaida Center. For more information, please visit their website at loisaida.org. Huáscar Robles discusses his novel Demonios with Carmen Graciela Díaz, author of Huele a bomba, and Guillermo Severiche, author of El agua viene de noche. Demonios narrates the influence of Protestantism in rural Puerto Rico during the island’s surveillance ---- through the eyes of 13-year old Eyerí who endures a journey conversion therapy rituals to exorcise a demon of homosexuality. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store’s 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street. Doors will open at 6:30pm. STRAND IN-PERSON EVENT COVID-19 POLICY: All patrons may be required to provide proof of vaccination and/or wear a mask *per the author’s discretion. An email will be sent to all attendees 24 hours prior to the event with updated vaccination and masking requirements. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Eyerí is male but has breasts. He is chaste but is tortured by a demon of homosexuality. His father exchanges Puerto Rican patriotism for religious fanaticism and his mother rejects academia to embrace televangelism. Under the torment of his parents’ new sect, Eyerí, with only 13 years old, turns to God and anorexia to expulse the devil and melt the obesity that causes gynecomastia. The tornado of rituals, exorcisms and conversion therapies intensify as they occur in a Puerto Rico sexually repressed, politically surveilled and besieged by the consumerist propaganda of the 1980s. In Demons, Huáscar Robles exposes the wound left by Protestantism in rural Puerto Rico. In his first novel, he narrates one family’s plight as they are seduced by prosperity theology. The family joins the mega Temple A.T.L.A.S. and vows to its leader, the tele evangelist and model El Enviado Spencer. Eyerí, tries to extirpate his perceived demonic possession and pays the price with his flesh and sanity. He narrates the events through intense, implausible, and tragicomic memories: he speaks with demons, flirts with Mexican superstar Juan Gabriel and Michael Jackson and Eyeri’s mom, Estrella, clash to claim the son’s eternal soul. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico succumbs to its economic policies. Puerto Ricans migrate, multinational companies displace regional businesses and authorities punish political dissent. But Eyerí, his family and the rest of the Island want MTV and everything the U.S. TV programs promise. The vehicle to prosperity is God, though neither Eyerí nor the Island is able to pay the price. Loisaida, Inc. stands firm on its original mission– Address the serious economic and social disenfranchisement of poor and low income Latino residents, with employment and training opportunities, comprehensive youth development initiatives, as well as neighborhood revitalization activities that positively highlight the rich culture, heritage, and contribution of the Puerto Rican and Latin American community in this City– while offering programming that meets the demands of the times and the neighborhood’s changing demographic. In its new home in 710 East 9th Street, Loisaida builds a connection between community, learners, artists and scholars through affordable education opportunities in cultural fields, media, design and everyday life. Our approach celebrates the urban surroundings, grassroots invention and immigrant spirit of the Loisaida neighborhood in its dedication to celebrate Latino cultural vitality and their contributions to NYC. Its new multi-purpose space, The Loisaida Center, aims to become an incubator for self-sustainable artisanal technology, and culinary arts entrepreneurial initiatives Huáscar Robles is an author and journalist from Caguas, Puerto Rico. He is the author of the novel Demonios (Secta de los perros, San Juan, 2022) and Puerto príncipes: temblemos todos (La Cifra, México City), a nonfiction book on Haiti after the earthquake. NYU’s Temporales, Evento Horizonte, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Center for Investigative Journalism and other outlets have published his fiction and essays. As an Op-Ed writer for Puerto Rico’s El Nuevo Día for a decade, he covered economy, environmental and LGBTQ+ issues.  His podcast Catatonia received praise by the LA Review of Books and he currently contributes reportages to CNN and other outlets. Robles was recently longlisted by The Masters Review Novel Excerpt contest.  Robles directed documentary The Invisible Coast on Haitian merchants in Puerto Rico and his visual journalism has exhibited in Columbia University, AS220 and Kellogs Blanchard Gallery, among more. He was an Ochberg Fellow at Columbia University’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, and Urban Media Fellow at University of Southern California’s Center for Justice and Journalism.  His current project is a hybrid The Penultimate Days on the intersection of the Caribbean, technology and reggaeton. Carmen Graciela Díaz is a Puerto Rican journalist with more than 15 years of experience in writing and publishing. She is the author of Huele a bomba: la paradójica esencia del periodismo de Avance (Ediciones Puerto, 2014), a book on the history of the groundbreaking Puerto Rican publication.  For over 10 years, teaching has been another way of exercising the journalism she believes in. In 2021 she was appointed a Distinguished Lecturer in charge of the Bilingual Subject Concentration at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Previously she was an adjunct lecturer at Lehman College (Bronx, New York) and the Universidad Metropolitana (Cupey and Bayamón, Puerto Rico).  She holds two master’s degrees, one from Columbia University’s Journalism School in Arts and Culture Reporting (New York) and the other from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (San Juan) in Cultural Studies.  She has profiled significant figures including Marina Abramovic, John Malkovich, Junot Díaz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Oliver Stone, and José Andrés.  She has worked with Univision News Digital, El Nuevo Día, and Primera Hora writing on arts journalism, education, and Hispanic issues. Her articles have appeared in El País, Hyperallergic, Letras Libres, Centro Journal, The Common, and Reasons to be Cheerful. Her recent freelance work includes conducting research for the biopic Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It and contributing chapters for the book ArtPlace: 10 Years. Guillermo Severiche (1986) holds a Bachelor’s in Modern Literatures from Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Mendoza, Argentina) as well as an M.A. in Hispanic Studies and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA). In 2016, he moved to New York to complete an M.F.A. in Creative Writing in Spanish at NYU. As a writer, he has published short stories and essays in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Spain, and Chile. His plays have received staged readings in New York, Orlando, and Madrid. In 2021 he won the first prize in the Playwriting Contest Open Scene with his play Vos. His first novel, El agua viene de noche, has been published by GG Editora in Argentina. He has been granted fellowships to complete research for his work as a writer and scholar and to participate in artistic and academic events in Turkey (Bilgi University, 2012), Cuba (Festival de Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, 2014), and Bolivia (Colectivo Ch’ixi, 2017), among others. He has obtained grants from Queens Council on the Arts in New York to fund EN CONSTRUCCIÓN, a series of workshops and readings that showcases new work by NYC-based Latin American writers. Currently, he teaches in the Department of Modern Languages at Fordham University (Lincoln Center) and he works as Literary Manager at IATI Theater.