Gilbert Cruz

Please, it is my great shame.

Please, it is my great shame.

Whenever I go back to see family in Puerto Rico, they give me the business all the time.

Whenever I go back to see family in Puerto Rico, they give me the business all the time.

I obviously want to talk to you about your new book, about your personal history, and of course about writing and creativity. And I think for you, all of these things intertwine in many of your books, and they certainly do in your new novel. This is a book that is set in the 1890s. Your main character, heads down to witness the Chilean civil war that is happening there.

I obviously want to talk to you about your new book, about your personal history, and of course about writing and creativity. And I think for you, all of these things intertwine in many of your books, and they certainly do in your new novel. This is a book that is set in the 1890s. Your main character, heads down to witness the Chilean civil war that is happening there.

And I'm wondering what was going through your mind when you said, this is the time period, this is the event, and this is what I want my character to see.

And I'm wondering what was going through your mind when you said, this is the time period, this is the event, and this is what I want my character to see.

The main character, Emilia, she shares a last name with several other characters across your body of work, including several in your first book, The House of the Spirits. Why does this name resonate with you? What are you trying to say by sort of threading this name or this family line throughout several of your books?

The main character, Emilia, she shares a last name with several other characters across your body of work, including several in your first book, The House of the Spirits. Why does this name resonate with you? What are you trying to say by sort of threading this name or this family line throughout several of your books?

Well, speaking of relatives, Emilia, she doesn't have a relationship with her birth father. She goes looking for him. I know you did not have a relationship with your birth father. I'm curious about how your mother, Panchita, talked about your father when you were young and how you thought about him, if at all.

Well, speaking of relatives, Emilia, she doesn't have a relationship with her birth father. She goes looking for him. I know you did not have a relationship with your birth father. I'm curious about how your mother, Panchita, talked about your father when you were young and how you thought about him, if at all.

First of all, that sounds terrible.

First of all, that sounds terrible.

Emilia also doesn't have a connection to her father for much of her life. However, the scenes in the book when Emilia does finally meet her father, not to give away too many details, I found quite moving. And I was wondering what it was like to write those scenes for you.

Emilia also doesn't have a connection to her father for much of her life. However, the scenes in the book when Emilia does finally meet her father, not to give away too many details, I found quite moving. And I was wondering what it was like to write those scenes for you.

Emilia, not surprisingly, given who you are, she bucks a lot of convention for women of her time period. She goes on to become a war reporter. She writes gory dime novels about murder and vengeance. You have written and you've said many times that you've been a feminist since you were a child because of the way that you saw women.

Emilia, not surprisingly, given who you are, she bucks a lot of convention for women of her time period. She goes on to become a war reporter. She writes gory dime novels about murder and vengeance. You have written and you've said many times that you've been a feminist since you were a child because of the way that you saw women.

your mother and women of your mother's generation treated when you were growing up in Chile. And I wonder, over the course of your career, has it been purposeful to write your female characters in this way? Or it's just like, this is the only way I know how to write women.

your mother and women of your mother's generation treated when you were growing up in Chile. And I wonder, over the course of your career, has it been purposeful to write your female characters in this way? Or it's just like, this is the only way I know how to write women.