Author reading from novel in progress, "The Cemetery Boys"

Helena Maria Viramontes will offer a reading of her current novel in progress, “The Cemetery Boys,” which follows the experience of soldiers from three wars (WW II, Vietnam, Iraq). This novel exemplifies her commitment to... [ view full abstract ]

Helena Maria Viramontes will offer a reading of her current novel in progress, “The Cemetery Boys,” which follows the experience of soldiers from three wars (WW II, Vietnam, Iraq). This novel exemplifies her commitment to writing in order to reverse the invisibility of her community. She explores in particular the city of Los Angeles because it is also the narrative of the first hundred years of her own family history in Los Angeles. As she notes, “I attended the same grammar school my father attended up until the third grade where his education stopped, and I attended both middle and high school that my mother did. I see myself returning again and again to this same corner of the world to take the full measure of the depth of its roots and to halt the hollering of my own family ghosts.”