The playwright and theatre artist Carmen Aguirre discusses her first book, Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (Douglas & McIntyre, 2011), being a member of the Chilean resistance, Chile today, and more, with Joseph Planta.

Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter by Carmen Aguirre. (Douglas & McIntyre, 2011) Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Something Fierce

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver at TheCommentary.ca.

The book is called Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter. It is a new, first book from the playwright and actor Carmen Aguirre, who joins me now. What she’s written is a fascinating memoir about fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile in 1973, coming to Canada, and going back in the late 1970s. Her mother and stepfather were members of the Chilean resistance, and as they maintained their own safe house in Bolivia for members of the resistance, at the age of 18, she joined herself. The book is often dramatic, but it’s also sometimes funny. It’s a great view onto a part of the world that’s often unreported or unremembered. This memoir, a first from this perspective, is necessary, charming and gripping. Carmen Aguirre has written or co-written 18 plays, including The Refugee Hotel, which was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play last year. Something Fierce is published by Douglas & McIntyre. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Carmen Aguirre; Good morning, Ms. Aguirre.

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