Irene Vilar (born c. 1969) is a Puerto Rican American

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, environmental advocate, and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of several books dealing with national and generational trauma and women's

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to human reproduction, reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights: Reproductive rights ...

Biography

Born in

Arecibo, Puerto Rico Arecibo (; ) is a Arecibo barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado, Puerto Rico, Utuado and Ciales, Puerto Rico, Ciale ...

in 1969, Vilar is the granddaughter of

Puerto Rican nationalist Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to gain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire until 1898 and since then from the United States. Today, the movement is most commonly re ...

Lolita Lebrón Lolita Lebrón (November 19, 1919 – August 1, 2010) was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of aggravated assault and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wou ...

, who participated in an assault on the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in 1954.''Memoir of a former abortion addict''
from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 13 October 2009 After her mother's suicide in 1977, she attended boarding school in New Hampshire at age 15 before enrolling at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

where she married her literature professor, Pedro Cuperman.''Death Threats, Hate Mail for 'Abortion Addict' Author''
from ''

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'' 14 October 2009 Her work '' The Ladies' Gallery: A Memoir of Family Secrets'' (originally published in 1996) was a ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' and ''Detroit Free Press'' notable book of the year, a finalist for the Mind Book of the Year Award and the Latino Book Award. Her memoir, ''Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict'' (published in 2009), revealed that the author had 15 abortions in 17 years. Vilar received death threats after its publication. It won the 2010 IPPY Gold Medal for Best Memoir/Autobiography and the 12th Latino Book 2nd Place Award for Best Women’s Issues. She founded her own literary agency, Vilar Creative Agency, and serves as a co-agent in the United States for Ray-Gude Mertin Literary Agency, an agency specializing in Spanish, Latin American, and Portuguese authors, which represented writers as 1998

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laureate

Jose Saramago Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean *Jose ben Halafta * ...

. In 2007, Vilar founded the Colorado and Puerto Rico based non-profit Americas for Conservation + the Arts and is its current executive director. In 2010, Vilar was awarded a

Guggenheim fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

for her nonfiction writing. Also that year, she gave the keynote at the 2010 National Convention of State Senators and Legislators Hispanic Caucus on Latino Mental Health, “Severe Depressive Disorder: Overcoming Adversity and Stigma” where she talks about the trauma she experienced growing up and in her marriage. She serves on the advisory council of the Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry and the Green Leadership Trust. After

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

in 2017, Vilar founded the Resilience Fund through her non-profit to help farmers restore their farms.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilar, Irene 1969 births Living people People from Arecibo, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican self-help writers Puerto Rican women writers American memoirists American women memoirists Syracuse University alumni