Author Marjorie Agosín

Author Marjorie Agosín at the Camden Public Library July 8

Marjorie Agosín was raised in Chile and moved to the US to escape the horrors of the Pinochet takeover. Coming from a South American country and being Jewish, Agosín’s writings demonstrate a unique blending of these cultures. Her book I Lived on Butterfly Hill, recently published by Atheneum Books, is the story of young Celeste whose safe, peaceful, and idyllic life is upended by unrest that sweeps Chile. Author Agosín will talk about her life and the events in Chile, her move to Maine, and about her book, at the Camden Public Library on Tuesday evening, July 8, at 7:00 pm.

Marjorie Agosín is an award-winning poet, essayist, fiction writer, activist, and professor. She is a prolific author: her published books, including those she has written as well as those she has edited, number over eighty, according to Wikipedia. Two of her most recent books are poetry collections, The Light of Desire / La Luz del Deseo, translated by Lori Marie Carlson, and Secrets in the Sand: The Young Women of Juárez, translated by Celeste Kostopulos-Cooperman, about the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez. She teaches Spanish language and Latin American literature at Wellesley College, and has won notability for her outspokenness for women’s rights in Chile. The United Nations has honored her for her work on human rights, and the Chilean government awarded her with the Gabriela Mistral Medal of Honor for Life Achievement in 2002. Agosín was born in 1955 to Moises and Frida Agosín in Chile, where she lived her childhood in a German community.

She has received the Letras de Oro Prize for her poetry, presented by Spain’s Ministry of Culture to writers of Hispanic heritage living in the United States. Her writings about, and humanitarian work for, women in Chile have been the focus of feature articles in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Ms. Magazine. She has also won the Latino Literature Prize for her poetry.

In the novel, an eleven-year-old’s world is upended by political turmoil in this searing novel, based on true events in Chile. Celeste Marconi is a dreamer. She lives peacefully among friends and neighbors and family in the idyllic town of Valparaiso, Chile—until the time comes when even Celeste, with her head in the clouds, can’t deny the political unrest that is sweeping through the country. Warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates disappear from class without a word. Celeste doesn’t quite know what is happening, but one thing is clear: no one is safe, not anymore. The country has been taken over by a government that declares artists, protestors, and anyone who helps the needy to be considered “subversive” and dangerous to Chile’s future.

So Celeste’s parents—her educated, generous, kind parents—must go into hiding before they, too, “disappear.” To protect their daughter, they send her to America. As Celeste adapts to her new life in Maine, she never stops dreaming of Chile. But even after democracy is restored to her home country, questions remain: Will her parents reemerge from hiding? Will she ever be truly safe again? Accented with interior artwork, steeped in the history of Pinochet’s catastrophic takeover of Chile, and based on many true events, this multicultural ode to the power of revolution, words, and love is both indelibly brave and heartwrenchingly graceful.

From School Library Journal

Things take a drastic turn when Valparaíso starts being affected by what Celeste’s parents call “earthquakes of the soul”—the country falls under the grip of a ruthless dictator who is determined to eliminate dissent. Friends start disappearing, and Celeste’s parents, who are seen as subversives for their work helping the disadvantaged, go into hiding. Celeste is sent to live with her aunt in Maine, where she struggles to acclimate, and to understand the larger picture of what is happening at home. Agosín has woven a historical story that draws on her own life experiences, with themes of exile, the quest for justice, and the power of the written word to preserve history. The story mirrors, but does not directly reference, the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and its accompanying turmoil. This is Agosín’s first book for a younger audience, and she has managed to capture the wide-eyed curiosity and confusion of her narrator. --Jenna Lanterman, formerly at The Calhoun School and Mary McDowell Friends School, New York City

KIRKUS REVIEW

With a loving and financially secure family and a close group of friends, 11-year-old Celeste’s life in Valparaíso, Chile, is relatively carefree—until the coup that unseats the president and establishes a dictatorship.

People begin to be disappeared. Her parents, both doctors running a clinic for the poor, are now subversives who must go into hiding in order to keep themselves and Celeste safe. As the situation worsens, Celeste herself must leave her homeland to stay with her aunt in faraway Maine. She spends three years in this cold and solitary land. As she finally begins to fit in, the time comes to return home. She finds her country different, filled with the fog of sadness. But she also finds opportunities: to reconnect, rebuild and forgive. Though the size and scope of this novel may appear daunting, the beautiful language, compelling characters and short chapters make it a captivating read. For some, the extensive denouement may go on a touch too long, but most will be pleased to have a little extra time with Celeste as she and her community rebuild their lives in a new Chile. Award-winning Chilean author and poet Agosín’s debut for young people is a lyrically ambitious tale of exile and reunification.