Publishers Weekly Deals 6/23/2008 Vilar New Memoir to Other Press and Harper's Magazine

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6572084.html

Advance Blurbs:

Junot Diaz
(Pulitzer Prize winner)

"This is another dark perfect gem from Irene Vilar. IM is like a
journey into a harrowing underworld but guided by Vilar's gifts and
her light we emerge in the end transformed, enlightened and oh so
alive."

Bob Shacochis
(National Book Award and the Rome Prize for Literature)

"I have never read a book like IMPOSSIBLE MOTHERHOOD, Irene Vilar's
disturbing, heart-wrenching and ultimately triumphant memoir, for the
simple and understandable reason that no one of her gender has ever
summoned the brutally raw, transcendent courage to write such a
book--and yes, confess to such a troubling story. The overheated issue
of abortion has never offered any honest person easy answers, and
Vilar's dark journey through the lower circles of human sexuality and
desperate yearning, of lost souls and Janus-faced Pygmalions, of
self-inflicted wounds and compulsive patterns and historical
hauntings, shall only deepen the controversy that has so dangerously
divided our nation, thrown gasoline on the flames of our culture wars,
and continues to breed volumes of hypocrisy into American politics.
And yet I can think of no better word to describe the impact of
IMPOSSIBLE MOTHERHOOD than a blessing, the blessing of a profound and
eloquent intelligence forcing itself to mend a shattered self,
reminding us that the battle over abortion floats atop the suffering,
transgressions and aching indelible pain of real people, struggling
individuals who embody both futility and hope, moral confusion and
moral clarity, misshapen love and spiritual metamorphosis.
A final point: No one should expect Ms. Vilar to emerge as a
poster child for either side's cause. She is herself, singular,
radiant in her beauty as a mother, and an unlikely champion, imperfect
but striving, of life"

"Sea Journal" (1997 Scholastic, NY)

PRAISE FOR THE LADIES' GALLERY:

"Stunning. A Lyrical and visionary memoir of depression, Puerto Rican identity, and young womanhood"---
Kirkus Review (starred)

"Startling, raw, and affecting, a painful exercise in which memoir as therapy becomes memoir as art"---
Philadelphia Inquirer (by Carlin Romano)

"A beautiful memoir, humorous and compassionate"---
Newsday (by Suzanne Ruta)

"A hartrending and dramatic literary debut, wherein Vilar reveals the dark side her paents always tried to supress"---Miami Herald

"This memoir introduces us to a writer bound to make an impact...An autobiography as fantastic as any novel...It is a mark of Vilar' art that her story seems warm and alive"---Boston Globe

"Vilar is writing about three generations of Puerto Rican women...enchantresses and destroyers, the main people they destroy tend to be themselves...But in Vilar's case, talent, coupled with intelligence, still holds the winning hand."---Washington Post (by Carolyn See)

"Lolita Lebron's granddaughter, heir to the most public female embodiment of heroic self-sacrifice in Puerto Rico in this century, has written a memoir full of searing, intimate truths, silences broken open to reveal the personal costs of public myth making...A momentous act of courage."---The Women's Review of Books (by Aurora Levins Morales)

"Just as artist Frida Kahlo's splintered self-portarits and diaries personify Mexico's proud yet fragmentyed self-image, Vilar's intimate accounts about herself and her family personlaize Puerto Rico's political, social, and cultural wars for its identity. The potency of Vilar's tale arises from its telling...The Ladies' Gallery can liberate readers, yet this is more than a self-help book. It is a lesson in acquiring spiritual grace and understanding from a young woman who has plenty of both." ---
St. Louis Post Dispatch

"These are postcards from the dge...heartbraking... funny...political...breathtakingly beautiful."---
Detroit Free Press

""The Ladies' Gallery is destined to become a legendary work."---Bob Shacochis. author of "Swimming in the Volcano"

"Profoundly moving and beautifully written"---Rosario Ferre, author of "The House on the Lagoon"

"Sea Journal" a children's book (1997 Scholastic, NY)
Adopted by the California State Board of Education

PERIODICALS/REFERENCES

*Age (Melbourne, Australia), October 25, 1997, Olga Lorenzo, "Shooting from the Crib."

*Booklist, June 1, 1996, Donna Seaman, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. 1665.

*The Boston Globe Sunday, September 8, 1996, Amanda Heller, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age

*The Boston Globe, January 24, 1997, Ellen Clegg, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. C4.

*Chicago Tribune Sunday, August 18, 1996, Caorlyn Alessio, review of A Message from God in the AtomicAge, pg.3

*Detroit Free Press, November 13, 1996, Linnea Lannon, Top Ten Best NonFiction Books of the Year, pg 3

*Independent (London, England), July 13, 1997, Lilian Pizzichini, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age.

*Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)May 15, 1996, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age.

*Library Journal, June 15, 1996, Gwen Gregory, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age

*Manchester Guardian, December 1, 1998, Nina Rauch, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age.

*Miami Herald, June 2, 1998, Mirt Ojito, cover feature Living & Arts section C, cont. C2-3

*New York Times, May 26, 1998, Mirta Ojito, front page feature, Arts, The Ladies Gallery, "Shots that Haunted three Generations," E.1

*New Times, October 16, 1996, Walt Shepperd, "Author Irene Vilar's Memoir Confronts Death, Depression, and Puerto Rican Nationalism, " p. 8;

*Newsday, August 18, 1996, Suzanne Ruta, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. C33.

*El Nuevo Dia, December 28, 1998, Carmen Dolores Hernandez "The Ten Best Books of the Year", page 8 of Galeria segment, also front cover Sunday Galeria edition review March 2nd, 1997 "Escribir para Sobrevivir", page 12-14

*El Nuevo Herald, September 1, 1996, Juan Carlos Perez, review front cover feature of Galeria section E, cont. pg.2E

*Philadelphia Inquirer, December 15, 1996, Carlin Romano, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. 60.

*Publishers Weekly, May 6, 1996, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. 60.

*The Scotman, December 12, 1998, Katrina Dixon, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, pg.19

*St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1996, Jan Garden Castro, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. 5C.

*Sun Sentinel, September 2, 1996, David Beard, Suicide's Legacy: Life, not Blame", front cover feature review Lifestyle section D, cont. pg.8

*Times Literary Supplement, July 11, 1997, Claire Messud, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age,p. 29.

*Village Voice, August 6, 1996, Ed Morales, review of A Message from God in the Atomic Age, p. 65.
*Vogue, May 1996, David Streitfeld, "Advertisements for Themselves: Brace yourself for the New Age of memoirs", p.160-64

*Washington Post, August 16, 1996, Carolyn See, "Women beyond the Verge, " p. F5.

*Women's Review of Books, May, 1997, Aurora Levins Morales, "From Self-Sacrifice to Self-Preservation, " front cover feature review, and p. 10-11

"The Voice of Things" (essays, spiritual non-fiction), in progress, proposal and 30 page sample available

"The Ladies' Gallery" US reprint rights available as of 2005

"Sea Journal" was adopted by California State Board of Education

Work:

Point of Contact, Syracuse, NY, assistant to the editor, 1990-92, managing editor, 1993-98; Syracuse
University Press, Syracuse, NY, acquisitions editor, 2000-02; University of Wisconsin Press, series
editor of "The Americas" book series, 2002-2005; One World Publications, series editor, 2005-2006; Vilar Creative Agency, 2005-;Ray Gude Mertin Literary Agency 2005-;