The Hobart Festival of Women Writers is happy to kick off the Participating Writers Spotlights for Festival 2019 with Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa. Dahlma returns to Hobart to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication of her critically acclaimed novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE STONE
The 10th Anniversary Trade Paperback edition of DAUGHTERS OF THE STONE by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa includes a special note from the author, as well as a Readers Guide for educators and bookclubs. This novel remains an important work about Afro-Puerto Rican women, detailing their journeys from Old World to New.
“This first novel traces the lives of succeeding generations of Puerto Rican women from the 19th century onward. Though it’s ambitious historical narrative is reminiscent of the Latin American boom writers, it has a distinct personality of its own. In particular, I enjoyed its feminist perspective as well as the author’s tender loving care about language, a quality I find badly wanting in many a book published today.” – Oscar Hijuelos, author of “The Mambo Kings Sing Song of Love.”
“I write first and foremost because the stories I grew up reading in school bore no resemblance to world of my family and my community. Those stories did not tell about the way the sun fell on my grandmother’s hands as she handed me my fresh bread and butter breakfast every morning or the smell on my abuelo’s skin when he came home from the cane fields. Nowhere did I see my family’s many shades of brown complexions or the sound of my mother’s voice when she called me mamita. I write because those images of my life will not allow me to be silent. I write because somewhere down the road, I’d like a little black Puerto Rican girl just like me to find herself in the world of American letters. And that little girl? She’s already waiting.
— Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City, is a product of the Puerto Rican communities on the island and in the South Bronx. She attended the NYC public school system and got her academic degrees from SUNY-Buffalo and Queens College. As a child Dahlma was sent to live with her grandparents in Puerto Rico where she was introduced to the culture of rural Puerto Rico, including the storytelling that came naturally to the women, especially older women, in her family. Dahlma bases much of her work on her experiences during this time. Dahlma taught creative writing and language and literature in the New York City public school system before becoming a young-adult librarian.
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Dahlma, who first joined us in Hobart as a Participating Writer for Festival of Women Writers in 2014, will offer the workshop, Celebrating WisdomKeepers in 2019. This workshop is designed for the mature writer to take a moment to center, think back and weigh her footprint on this earth. It is for women who want to pass it forward and share their hard-earned life-experience or offer advice to a younger generation. We will use writing prompts to help us look back and project forward in an effort to acknowledge the road we have walked and celebrate the wisdom that comes of living a full life. And we will share. Yes, we will share. Materials: Participants are asked to bring a photo (preferably) or item they associate with an ancestor who holds a special place in their lives. We will use these items to spark writing that is deeply meaningful and complex. We will look at how we can use these prompts to enhance memoir or essay writing. We will also discuss how we can use what we learn during the workshop to help us create three-dimensional older characters within our fiction work.
Visit Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa.com
ALL INFORMATION ON HOBART FESTIVAL OF WOMEN WRITERS 2019
Hobart Festival of Women Writers.com
Registration opens May 1, 2019
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Hobart Festival of Women Writers 2022 