A razor-sharp memoir about the allure of suicide for three generations of women in one Puerto Rican family, A Message from God in the Atomic Age delves into the frightening secrets that have haunted a grandmother, mother, and daughter, alternating between Vilar's notes from the psychiatric ward and her recounting of her family history. of photos.
www.irenevilar.com
Irene Vilar was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Her memoir, The Ladies' Gallery (Other Press, 2009, originally published in 1996) was a Philadelphia Inquirer and Detroit Free Press notable book of the year and was short-listed for the 1999 Mind Book of the Year Award.
Vilar worked as acquisitions editor for Women and Jewish studies at Syracuse University Press and from 2002 to 2005 served as founder and series editor of The Americas book series published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Currently she is series editor of the Americas at Texas Tech University Press.
She is a literary agent for Vilar Creative Agency and Ray-Gude Mertin Literary Agency, an agency specializing in Spanish, Latin American, and Portuguese authors, representing such notable writers as Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago.
