Books and Authors
Living and Learning in Málaga – Year 2, Renewal
Renewal Our renewal application for our Spanish residency was approved and in record time, according to our gestor, which is the intermediary for the administrative requirements for living in Spain. All thanks go to the diligent and detailed efforts of James who has managed our visa and residency paperwork from the start. So, kudos to…
Read MoreMonth Eleven in Málaga – Las dos Claudias, luck and chance, Filipinos–the cookie, and, oh, yeah, Carnaval
I don’t usually start with an update on how my Spanish is going, but… my Spanish is going pretty well! Thanks in large part to two lovely people, both named Claudia. Spanish Acquisition Report – Learning with the Claudias, movies, and bookstore events In my second month in Malaga, Seattle friend Arline introduced me via…
Read MoreMonth Ten in Málaga – Of Poets and the Spanish Civil War
Can one be enchanted by a book titled The Age of Disenchantments? I don’t remember what led me to this book, that is, what led me to the story of the poet Leopoldo Panero, but whoa, am I glad I encountered it because it riveted me. The prologue begins with the death of Federico García…
Read MoreMonth Nine in Málaga – Some tidbits about a few Spanish writers and artists
Aside from Spanish, I’m slowly learning the cultural history of this country. It’s a gradual accretion of information through podcasts, museum visits, and books. Here are some recent tidbits. Pio Baroja and Ernest Hemingway I listen to a variety of Spanish-language podcasts on my morning walks. Some of them are specifically for language learning with…
Read MoreMonth Seven (Mostly Not) in Málaga – Of New York City and Northern Spain
It turns out I spent only three and a half days in Málaga in October. James and I had to be in New York City for the first three weeks of the month to attend to an issue that had been pending prior to our move. New York offers its own unique attractions and I…
Read MoreMonth Six in Málaga – Intercambios and Small-World Encounters
With September came a change in the weather. For the first few days, there were clouds and a bit of rain, and when the sun returned, it was with a tempered presence. No more scorching hot days. No need to cower indoors until evening or skitter from scarce shade to scarcer shade in the height…
Read MoreMonth Three in Málaga – Turning Seventy
June is my birthday month and though I’ve never been one to celebrate for an entire month, I thought that because this birthday was doubly significant— hitting the very big Seven-Oh! and doing it in Spain—that every day this month, I would write down something that made me happy. That intention lasted a few days.…
Read MoreThe PALABRA Archive—what it is and what it means to me
Like most writers, I submit stories to journals, apply for residencies and fellowships, and query agents. I get far more rejections than acceptances, and sometimes feel as if I’m writing and speaking my words in an unlit corner of a vast empty room. And then one day out of the blue, without having to submit,…
Read MoreA long overdue thank-you to my 11th grade teacher (on the second anniversary of my book)
Sometimes you write something that you didn’t realize you’d written until the book is published and readers weigh in and you find out what you wrote. For instance, I wrote a book of stories about a young girl who learns how to exist in the world as a visibly brown, yet invisible girl. Writer, editor,…
Read MoreOn Not Writing About Death
For my 69th birthday in June, one of my sisters gave me a book called The Art of Death by Edwidge Danticat. The subtitle is Writing the Final Story. It’s from The Art Of series edited by Charles Baxter and published by Graywolf Press. In it, Danticat examines death scenes from works by Toni Morrison,…
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