The Grand Valley Writers Series looks to bring distinguished and emerging writers to campus to share their stories and interact with students from a variety of majors. Featuring over 19 writers throughout its progression, the series brings together writers from differing backgrounds to give students a look into the real life world of novel creation and execution.

The last presentation in the annual Grand Valley Writers Series came on Nov. 17 from esteemed novelist, Angie Cruz.

“I feel better for having read (Angie Cruz’s) work,” said English literature student Angela Deckard. “Through her prose, she humanizes the ‘immigrant experience’ and what it means to be a Latina woman.

“Her works zeroes in on the lonely interior lives of her characters and through this, we see the damaging effects of chasing the so-called American Dream. I think it would benefit students greatly to experience this work.”

Writer Angie Cruz is the author of two novels, “Soledad,” which is currently being modified into a screenplay, and “Let It Rain Coffee,” which was a finalist in 2007 for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has been published in various publications around the nation including The New York Times, Kweli, Phatitude and South Central Review. Cruz is currently an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh where she teaches writing-related courses.

During her presentation, she looked to bring awareness to the lack of representation of Latin Americans in the United Sates as well as women’s issues and the effect that this lack of representation can have on children as they grow up.

“I am concerned about the absence of Latin Americans in today’s media,” Cruz said. “I have personally experienced what it is like to witness this limited self-representation in a world of culturally restricted narratives.”

According to a recent national census, there are over 50 million Latin Americans in the United States, with the majority of them being under the age of 30, yet the depiction of these individuals in society in areas such as television and movies are extremely narrow, Cruz said.

There were over 3,200 children’s books produced in the Unites States last year, but only 92 depicted black children and only 52 showed Latino children.

“The question I would like to ask you all is this: do you know where you want to go? Are you limited by the narratives you read and consume? How do these narratives effect you in your daily life?” Cruz said. “We need to bridge the gap that is equal representation in literary works today.”

Following the main presentation, there was a brief question and answer session where students and community members were able to ask Cruz about her life and writing style. With several of her works being based off of real life and personal events, individuals were interested to learn more about the history and creation of her books.

“The possibilities of fiction are allowed to grow along the maps we create,” Cruz said. “Writing and reading fiction is our way of making the impossible, possible.”

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