Behrend writer's series brings Cristina Garcia to Smith Chapel
Every other Thursday evening during the fall semester a short story reading series takes place in the Smith Chapel.
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This series brings in famous authors across the globe to read the short stories that they have written as well as answer questions that the audience may have. The event is open to students, faculty and staff, and the general public. The author for the October 5 event was Cuban American Writer Cristina Garcia. Garcia was warmly introduced by Dr. Jessica Piney, a professor at Behrend who has long admired Garcia’s work throughout her life. Garcia’s novels deal with history as well as memory and fiction specifically in her home country of Cuba as well as the rest of the Caribbean. Garcia has written a total of seven novels, several poems, and at this reading, she was supporting her seventh novel “Here in Berlin”. At this reading, Garcia read four short stories and summaries from her novels. After each story was read she would answer questions as well as any remarks about how and why she wrote the story.
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Her first short story was about a girl who was a former war guerilla in Guatemala. She is plotting out the murder of the colonel while in his hotel closet. She brought an eight-inch knife from the hotel kitchen as the murder weapon. Garcia went into very explicit detail and emotion of his murder where she slits his throat and lets him bleed to death.
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The second and third stories were adapted from her novel “King of Cuba”. Both take place in Cuba. The second story was about a painter living in a treehouse in Havana. He has a pet Galapagos tortoise and he speaks of the poor conditions of his life as well as the city. He also talks about his artwork and what inspires him in his artwork. The third story was about Fidel Castro when he was a very young boy. His mother is giving him a bath and tells him how great he will be and how powerful he will be. Young Fidel is very excited and then goes to bed. This short story gave you a glimpse of Fidel Castro that you would not expect to see.
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The fourth and final story was from her new novel “Here in Berlin”. It is in first person voice and is about the main character Sophie. It takes place in a cemetery in Germany and is about her live body being trapped in a coffin and how she is trying to get out. This story used different expressions as well as figurative language that portrayed the story very well.
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Garcia was a success with the crowd and many members of the audience had questions and were well engaged with the readings. The audience was full and very active. After the reading the audience was able to purchase and get a hand signed version of her new novel “Here in Berlin”. The next reading series will take place on October 19th at 6:00 PM at the Smith Chapel.