Marie Arana’s American Chica (2001): Circular Voyages in the U.S./Peruvian Archipelago

Abstract

Marie Arana is the first Peruvian descent woman writer to receive critical national attention by locating the transnational U.S.-Peruvian migration experience on the map for an English-reading public. Despite the fact that Arana is contemporaries with Latina authors Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Denise Chávez, and Cristina García, the generation that boomed in the 1990s, she did not publish her memoir, American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, until 2001; it was a finalist for the National Book Award, as well as the PEN/Memoir Award. Before becoming a nationally recognized author, Arana organized conferences for many years promoting and supporting the works of Latino/a and Latin American authors, or “cheerleading from the sidelines” as she would say, but was known more for her editorial, rather than her writing efforts.¹ Since American Chica, Arana has edited The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work (2003), published two novels Cellophane (2006a) and Lima Nights (2008), and written the introduction for many books, including, Through the Eyes of the Condor: An Aerial Vision of Latin America (2007). Arana has finally received the due recognition for her role as a critically acclaimed trans-American Latina author.