Mexican writer promotes "Dreamer Literature"

Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue

conducts a literature workshop for " Dreamers " or young people brought to the United States as children, where a kind of testimonial subgenre of fiction based on the constant anguish of possible deportation is forged.

Promoted by the PEN Club United States , the workshop finished its third cycle this month with a reading offered in the framework of the international literature festival held every year by this institution in New York .

The outstanding texts shared in the reading reflected the tension of families in constant risk of separation and the anguish before an uncertain future that depends on which federal courts in the United States maintain or reject the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ).

"What we are seeing is the testimony of a generation living in an exceptional situation that long for a country that does not want them and that belongs to a land that does not want them to belong. Yes, all its texts are crossed by anguish and anxiety, "explained Enrigue.

Álvaro Enrigue, who won the 2013 Herralde Novel Prize for Sudden Death stressed that this literature has been created by people who go through unique conditions, with lives that have lasted for long periods under the shadows and that have a lot to say.

Enrigue indicated that the original intention had been to create a workshop for undocumented immigrant workers in New York, although PEN ended up deciding to give voice to a group that in 2016 was not yet very visible: "Dreamers."

The workshop initially attracted students from the University of the City of New York ( CUNY ), an institution that also promoted these exercises. Now, 12 young people come from all over the city, mostly Mexicans , who even receive a modest scholarship.

"With a lot of work we have achieved that in a city with a huge population of migrants, some of the best writers among them have finished in the workshop," said Enrigue, who dedicates one day a week to the project he conducts as a volunteer.

"These guys are the best this country has. They are students who study, who finish a work shift and then go to the workshop the next day. I wish it were like that, all of the United States, so dedicated. This country would be much better, "emphasized Enrigue.

sg