Natalia Sylvester was kind enough to answer some questions for us about her writing and Italian heritage. 1. How has being Italian American shaped your writing? I love this question first and foremost because I've never been asked it; it's not often that immigrants in the US are embraced with their full heritage, so I've always been known and self-identified as a Peruvian American writer, despite also having Italian ancestry. Part of that is also because I've never really given myself permission to take up that space—identity when you're part of a diaspora is so complicated, and there are always questions of are we enough? How many generations back "counts"? We can often suppress (or are forced to suppress) parts of ourselves out of a need to un-complicate our identities when they struggle to fit into the narrow definitions imposed on us. So to say that I'm really touched and appreciative of being welcomed in this space, and having this part of my identity embraced, is an understatement.
Interview with Natalia Sylvester
Interview with Natalia Sylvester
Interview with Natalia Sylvester
Natalia Sylvester was kind enough to answer some questions for us about her writing and Italian heritage. 1. How has being Italian American shaped your writing? I love this question first and foremost because I've never been asked it; it's not often that immigrants in the US are embraced with their full heritage, so I've always been known and self-identified as a Peruvian American writer, despite also having Italian ancestry. Part of that is also because I've never really given myself permission to take up that space—identity when you're part of a diaspora is so complicated, and there are always questions of are we enough? How many generations back "counts"? We can often suppress (or are forced to suppress) parts of ourselves out of a need to un-complicate our identities when they struggle to fit into the narrow definitions imposed on us. So to say that I'm really touched and appreciative of being welcomed in this space, and having this part of my identity embraced, is an understatement.