Meet the Cuban author and playwright Teresa Dovalpage

Please welcome my special guest, the award-winning Cuban playwright and novelist Teresa Dovalpage. She’s here today to talk about her novel, Habanera.

Teresa has a doctorate in Latin American Literature and is the author of five novels, three in Spanish and two in English, and a collection of short stories in Spanish. Her plays have been staged in Chicago by the Aguijon Theater and in small theaters in Miami. Her articles, reviews and stories by her have appeared in Rosebud, Latino Today, Afro-Hispanic Review, Baquiana, La Peregrina, Letras Femeninas, El Nuevo Herald and other publications. She currently works as a freelance for The Taos News and the bilingual newspaper Mas New Mexico.

Teresa currently lives in Taos, New Mexico, where she teaches Spanish and Spanish Literature at UNM-Taos.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Teresa! When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

A: Thanks girl! Come to think of it, I probably decided to become a writer as a teenager. I grew up in Havana during the 80s and the entertainment options were quite limited: camping in rustic settings or going to parties on Saturday nights. I was never the cheez boom bah type (in fact, I was a nerd) and I was afraid of snakes, so I stayed at home in the company of books. After reading thousands of pages, there came a time when I thought, “Hey, I bet I can write one too.” And I started writing… some really horrible stories, according to my mother.

Q: Has anyone in your family written or had creative interests?

A: My grandfather used to have long conversations with himself and often wrote them down. He transcribed them carefully, into dialogues between two characters “Yo” and “Mí mismo” (I and Myself). Although I don’t know if this counts as creativity… I tried to portray some of his eccentricities in Ponciano, the grandfather of the main character in my novel Habanera, a portrait of a Cuban family.

Q: Did you have any struggles or difficulties when you started writing?

A: While I lived in Cuba, I didn’t think I would have any opportunity to publish my books, so I keep writing for love, for love of art. But I knew that I would eventually leave the island, which happened in 1996. Once I got to “La Yuma,” as we call the United States, it was a pretty smooth ride. I didn’t even have an agent when I started, I just sent the manuscript of A Girl Like Che Guevara to as many publishers as I could think of. “Someone is going to pick it up, someday,” I thought.

Q: Did you have any mentor?

A: Of course! There are two writers that I greatly admire and consider my mentors, my teachers. One is Lorraine Lopez, author of The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters and a 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award finalist. I always learn a lot about plot development and structure from reading her books. And my compatriot Ana Cabrera Vivanco, currently based in Spain and author of Las Horas del Alma, a brilliant novel that I hope to see translated into English soon.

Q: Let’s talk now about your novel, Habanera, which has garnered very favorable reviews. What is it about and what inspired you?

A: It started as a memoir, but at one point I realized that I had reinvented the story too much. After some prodding from my mother, who among other things called me a liar, I decided to make it fiction. It is loosely based on my own family, although I added many events that never happened in reality. (There weren’t any ghosts in the house, at least that I knew of.) But the characters are inspired by my parents and grandparents who were, and are, a strange and motley bunch.

Q: Habanera combines quirky humor with captivating drama. How do you decide when to incorporate humor in this type of novel? Is it a conscious decision or does it come naturally?

A: Well, some things that people find funny were never meant to be funny, hehehe…

Q: One reviewer wrote, “Dovalpage is a master of quirky, lovable characters and an emotionally resonant narrative.” How do you create your characters and make them genuine? How do you make your prose glow with emotion?

A: In this case, I copied most of the characters from reality, so creating “genuine” characters was relatively easy. After all, I knew the models well… As for the emotion part, I try to give as much detail as I can, to get inside the characters’ heads and let them do the talking.

Q: How was your writing process while working on Habanera? Was it difficult to go back in time and relive that experience?

A: Since I started it as a memoir, the writing process was like keeping a journal backwards. I wrote down a series of episodes as they came to my mind (the unfortunate Christmas pig at home, the visits to the cemetery…) But when I decided to turn it into a novel I changed the time period, from the 80s to the 90s, like this that I had to go back and rewrite some scenes… Overall, it was fun reliving my childhood experiences. I got to see for the first time how peculiar it really was.

Q: Tell us what the review process is like for you. Do you edit as you write or edit afterwards?

Kinda. I edit as I write and when I finish the manuscript, I have someone read the final draft as well, particularly when it’s in English. Alas, these annoying prepositions! My husband Gary has been a great help in that regard.

Q: How was your path to publication?

A: It hasn’t been too difficult. After Soho Press published my first novel in English, A Girl like Che Guevara, I had three more novels (in Spanish) published: Posesas de La Habana Posesas de La Habana, (Crazy Ladies of Havana, PurePlay Press, 2004), Death of a Murcian in Havana, which was a finalist for the Herralde Prize in 2006 and El Difunto Fidel, which won the Rincón de la Victoria Prize in Spain in 2009. It was a little more difficult to find a home for a collection of short stories in Spanish, Por Candela’s fault and other stories, but I finally made it. And then Habanera came…

Q: What do you like most about the writer’s life?

A: The fact that I can write at home when I feel like it, surrounded by my dogs and cats… And using my mu-mu, although I only do it when my husband is not around. And most importantly, listening to readers, getting the personal feedback that makes all the hours spent in front of the computer worthwhile. There is a fan of Cuban literature in Spain who has created a website called La Biblioteca Cubana de Barbarito. When I receive a message from him or from another reader, I feel in seventh heaven…

Q: What Latin authors have inspired you?

A: Lots of them! But I want to mention Elena Ávila, who unfortunately passed away last March. She wrote Woman Who Glows in the Dark, a national bestseller on quackery, and several beautiful plays. I used Glow-in-the-Dark Woman as a textbook in my Santeria and Curanderismo class at the University of New Mexico and it inspired me to write a book on that subject, 101 Questions to a Curandera, which I am currently co-writing with a curandera from eight generations, Patricia Padilla. My only regret is not being able to meet Elena in person.

Q: Did you establish a connection with other Latina writers when you started writing? How important do you think a supportive community is for budding writers?

A: Well, we have a very supportive and active community at NeverAlone! I also have a wonderful circle of Latina writers and we trade drafts and give each other advice. It is an invaluable help.

Q: What advice would you give aspiring writers?

A: Don’t store rejection letters… I’ve heard some writers do it, but I can’t imagine anything more depressing, plus it seems like bad Feng Shui. And above all, keep writing!

Visit Teresa Dovalpage’s website at www.dovalpage.com.