Harrisonburg local Allison Garcia was the most recent guest for EMU’s “Writers Read” series, sponsored by the Language and Literature Department. Garcia appeared Thursday, Sept. 13, in Common Grounds to read excerpts from her most recent novel, “Vivir el Dream.” The book can be found in the campus library and on Amazon.
Garcia lives in Harrisonburg, working for the Community Services Board as a counselor. She recieved her master’s in counseling at EMU. She hears many —often horrific— stories of immigration through her work. Garcia is passionate about advocating for undocumented immigrants, which is what inspired her to write this book.
“Vivir el Dream” is the story of a girl, Linda, whose mother brought her to the United States illegally when Linda was just a child, and her struggles moving on from high school without a social security number. It is also narrated by a suicidal businessman and Linda’s mother. The book often moves from English to Spanish and weaves together the lives of these immigrants and their struggles with faith and living in the country undocumented.
“People were judging [immigrants] without knowing them and that’s why I wanted to write this book. I’ve personally worked with a lot of people that have been sexually trafficked and human trafficked and have experienced a lot of trauma with border crossings, so some of that happens in the book,” Garcia said. “People go through a lot to come here and that needs to be respected. I’m continuously inspired… they are way stronger than I am.”
Assistant Professor in the Language and Literature Department Adriana Rojas assigned the first chapter of the book to her Art of Storytelling class and had them translate the text from English to Spanish.
“I’m glad that she found an audience for her work,” Rojas said. “We have Dreamers in our community and we have immigrants. Students really responded well to her work. I think what most impresses me is that I see it as a young adult novel in the sense that I think it’s a really awesome read for [ages] 16- 25 and those are the people that are running to buy her book. I think it’s very in tune with the college experience and getting a job and internships, and then becoming more aware about other peoples and their struggles in this country.”
Junior Spanish major Adam Moyer was able to have dinner with Allison Garcia before her talk. “I was honored to have been given the opportunity to sit down for dinner with Allison Garcia before her Writer’s Read presentation. As someone who’s seen firsthand some of the harsh realities of both poor communities in Latin America as well as undocumented immigrants who have chosen to migrate to the United States, I was really impressed by Garcia’s representation of these marginalized people through her implementation of dialogue and storytelling in ‘Vivir el Dream,’” Moyer said. “I was impacted by the obvious emotion Garcia felt when reading some of the more sensitive scenes of her book during her presentation. It showed me she truly cares about these oppressed groups of people and desires to share her feelings and beliefs with the masses through her skill of writing.”
