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Elba Iris Pérez
Hello
I'm a theatre director, historian and author from Puerto Rico. I'm also the mother of two great people, Edgar and Isaura, and I'm Greg's wife. I view creative writing as a way of figuring out the world around me and reaching out to others who might want to understand Puerto Ricans and our struggles. I think of creative writing as a way of telling history and representing culture.
My Story
I'm from Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, even though I was born in Palmer, a barrio of Rio Grande, on the foothills of El Yunque rainforest. I spent part of my childhood in a factory town called Woronoco, in Massachusetts, where my father worked in a paper mill. I returned to Puerto Rico at age twelve, and lived in Aguas Buenas until I went off to college. I earned a BA in philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico, and an MA in Theatre at The University of Michigan.
I taught theatre at the University of Puerto Rico Arecibo campus for twenty six years. During that time I completed a PhD in History of Puerto Rico, from the UPR Rio Piedras campus, and wrote El teatro como bandera a book about street theatre in Puerto Rico during the 1960-1970 decades.
When I visited Woronoco in 2002 and found that all the homes had been torn down, I decided to write about the Puerto Rican community that once lived there. My first idea was to write a history of the community. But soon I turned to fiction, writing stories that never happened but are inspired in the diverse community that once lived in Woronoco.
I have two adult children and live with my husband and our yorkie, Ozzy, in Houston, Texas. My favorite thing to do is to create wonderful memories with my family.
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